Odds and ends

• Carlos Valenciaga, a Council of State member and chief of staff to Fidel Castro, and the man who made the television announcement of Fidel’s illness and transfer of power in 2006, is rumored to have been removed from his duties. The rumors are very solid in the sense that they are very widespread and everyone seems to believe them. Granma has yet to run one of those terse little notes saying he left his post and is waiting until “se le asigne otras funciones.” At any rate, Penultimos Dias says Mr. Valenciaga is now working in the manuscript department of the National Library. Which would not be far from his old job, as a crow flies, just across the Plaza de la Revolucion.

• Oil & Gas Journal on the new agreements with Venezuela; the plan is to build a new refinery and expand others, to quadruple Cuba’s refining capacity.

• Reuters looks at Cuba’s urban garden cooperatives (“organoponicos”); the 160 members of a coop in Alamar earn twice the average state salary.

• Prensa Latina has a writeup and box score of a 3-3 tie between the University of Alabama and a Cuban team of selected university students.

• For the record, a December 4 item that I missed: a business community letter (pdf) released by USA Engage calling on President-elect Obama to make dramatic changes in U.S. policy toward Cuba.