Odds and ends

• Juventud Rebelde: China’s ambassador in Havana announces grants and no-interest loans (amounts not specified) to support hydroelectric power projects, “supplies for the education sector,” additional technical assistance for aquaculture, and Chinese language instruction.

• EFE: Cuba’s foreign investment minister acknowledges that Cuba faces “big difficulties” with regarding international credit and will continue working to pay money owed to companies that trade with Cuba and had their accounts froze. He spoke at a meeting of a Spain-Cuba business council where the Spanish side spoke of the need for “regeneration of confidence.”

• AP: A replica of the 19^th century slave ship Amistad is sailing to Havana.

• Mambi Watch is beginning to plow through newly available Miami News archives from the 1960’s.

• A Cuban website takes a shot at the United States for treatment of street protests, using photos of a California demonstration against public education budget cuts (h/t Cuban Colada).

• Reuters: A guilty plea in a 1968 airliner hijacking from Luis Armando Pena, who took refuge in Cuba for 41 years and returned to the United States last October.