Odds and ends

• AP: Police yesterday blocked the weekly Quinta Avenida procession of the Damas de Blanco.

• CNN reports on the construction of replacement housing for hurricane victims in Pinar del Rio, with building materials manufactured on the spot.

• Herald: A 25-year-old diplomat defected from the passport section of the Cuban consulate in Mexico City and has come to the United States with her husband, according to her uncle in Canada.

• AP: A concert at the “tribuna anti-imperialista” on the Malecon next to the U.S. diplomatic mission drew a small crowd yesterday. Singer Silvio Rodriguez read a statement, and didn’t sing.

• Remember the report that travelers to Cuba would be required to buy travelers’ health insurance policies? Cubaencuentro reports that the cost will be three convertible pesos per couple per day.

• Cuban Colada takes note of a report in Spanish-language media that six Chilean companies wrote their government to point out that the problem of Cuba freezing the bank accounts of foreign companies operating there “has virtually been solved.”