Odds and ends

• The New York Times on the amazing variety of offerings left prayerfully by Cubans at the chapel at El Cobre, near Santiago. It’s the only place I have seen in Cuba with public displays calling for freedom for political prisoners.

• Last week the Arco Progresista held a meeting with the purpose of uniting the center-left segment of Cuba’s opposition. Some long documents came out of the event; a speech by Manuel Cuesta Morua, and a political statement that outlines eight tasks, including creation of a “pressure group” in Washington, regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election.

• Russia’s deputy prime minister is headed to Cuba, reportedly to discuss energy projects including on-shore oil production, and refining.

• Will the InBev deal to purchase Anheuser-Busch be a problem for Senator McCain’s campaign because of InBev’s Cuba business unit? sYou might think so, reading this article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or this one from an online journal of Marxist thought. Then there was this warning from Congressmen Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, issued before A-B agreed to the deal.