Odds and ends

• OAS Secretary General Insulza calls on Cuba to head off Guillermo Farinas’ death by satisfying his demand, i.e. by releasing 26 political prisoners so they can attend to their health out of prison.

• A view of the human rights situation in Cuba from British writer John Keenan, in the Guardian: “Latin American leaders are caught in a trap of their own making, believing that to criticise human rights abuses in Cuba is somehow to support Washinghton's embargo.

• Catholic News Agency: Christian Liberation Movement leader Oswaldo Paya again calls on Farinas to end his hunger strike.

• In the Globe and Mail, Alvaro Vargas Llosa asks whether the events in Cuba are headed the way of 1989.

• The University of Miami did an exercise simulating a crisis in Cuba with scholars playing roles of U.S. officials. The scenario, according to the Herald story: “Just hours after Fidel Castro is buried, brother Raul is killed in a coup. Fighting between army units is reported, and would-be refugees are massing near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo.” El Nuevo has a longer version of the story with more detail.

• A poll of evangelical leaders shows 63 percent oppose the embargo.

• AP: Brazil’s minister of health says it’s time to move “from emergency to strategic” aid to Haiti’s health sector, and signs an agreement with Cuba so that the two countries will work together to rehabilitate hospitals and clinics, provide ambulances and equipment, develop a primary care system, support an enhanced vaccination program, and create a center to monitor epidemics.

• An interview with yours truly in La Jornada.