Odds and ends

• Granma publishes a statement by Cuba’s Catholic bishops in which they call on the new executive and legislature to heed the calls for change expressed by Cubans in last year’s debate.

• On ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican of Texas, remarks on talks, trade, and contacts with Cuba: “I have believed for a while that we should be looking at a new strategy.”

• Who is MachadoVentura, the new first vice president? Here’s a brief sketch from AP. Herald's profile here.
  

• And what about Julio Casas Regueiro, the new vice president and defense minister, succeeding Raul Castro? According to Raul, he’s “very stingy.” He is in charge of the military’s enterprises and the process of state enterprise reform called perfeccionamiento empresarial, which began in the military enterprises and was extended to civilian enterprises. A friend suggests to me that his promotion is a sign that this process will now be more prominent in Cuban economic policy. If it interests you, here’s a study of it (pdf). And here’s a story on Regueiro from La Jornada.

• Raices de Esperanza, a Cuban American student association, is holding an April conference at Duke University. Information here.

• Comments deleted here in recent days were all spam.