Odds and ends

• Amnesty International says Cuba Should be part of the Summit of the Americas April 17-19 in Trinidad, and for good measure calls for the end of the U.S. embargo. Cuba’s is the only government excluded from the summit.

• The Orlando Sentinel on Cuban Americans and the new rules for family visits.

• Notimex: A Cuban government decision allows a Germany-based charity to repair and renovate four churches in Havana province. Last month I wrote about one of those churches, in Guira de Melena. Some coverage in English at The Herald’s Cuban Colada.

• The Council on Hemispheric Affairs takes a look at Cuba’s admission to the Rio Group last year. Cuba’s inclusion marks the “continued decline of the United States’ standing in Latin America,” the report says. Also this: “While Cuba’s new role is of unquestionable benefit to the island, it could pose an element of risk in that it may breed complacency in the regime and discourage the Castro government from making the necessary political and social concessions that would promote democratic values and reform some of the more Stalinist aspects of the economy.”