Odds and ends

• Granma led the paper today with a terse story about a meeting between President Raul Castro and Cardinal Jaime Ortega. AP got a little detail from Archbishop Dionisio Garcia, who participated in the meeting. Cuban Colada translates part of an AFP story where Archbishop Garcia anticipates action regarding political prisoners, and says the meeting lasted four hours.

• In a Herald op-ed, Tomas Bilbao of the Cuba Study Group argues that we should listen to Cuba’s dissidents not only when they criticize Havana’s policies, but when they criticize ours too. He links to a video, an excerpt of a documentary about Cuban youth, showing blogger Claudia Cadelo and others explaining how an end to American sanctions would have a beneficial effect inside Cuba.

• USA Today: The United States and Mexico have a “Joint Contingency Plan for Maritime Pollution,” under which President Calderon has offered to help us deal with the spill. Imagine that.

• Financial Times: Cuba is negotiating with potential foreign partners to administer eight sugar mills.