Odds and ends

• Unnamed sources tell El Pais that after August, “there will be a broadening of self-employment and above all the conversion of certain service enterprises into cooperatives; subsidies and social spending will continue to be reduced with the goal of making the system sustainable, and payrolls will slowly be deflated, something that, as is known, will have a social impact; there will also be progress in the elimination of the dual currency and the renegotiation of the debt with the goal of alleviating financial tensions.”

• CNN: The U.S consulate in Havana is holding a meeting with families of the political prisoners who have declined to go to Spain, and with those who have not yet been contacted. Spanish and Church officials will be present. More from AFP and Yoani Sanchez’ Twitter feed.

• Paul Hare, former British Ambassador in Havana, writes in the Herald that the recent prisoner releases are the result of dialogue plus pressure.

• Recently freed political prisoner Ricardo Gonzalez, now in Spain, writes in the New York Times about what he learned in prison and his rebirth upon leaving it.

• A Spanish newspaper chides the released dissidents for complaining about their living conditions and the likelihood that they will be offered settlement in places other than Madrid. At Babalu, they dug up comments about the hotel where they are staying temporarily, and it sounds the kind of place that you would want to be temporary.