Odds and ends

• Guillermo Farinas was not given permission to travel to France to receive his EU human rights award, the Herald reports. He sent a video message that included a warning about “an unnecessary civil war between Cubans.”

• The Forward interviews Judy Gross, wife of detained USAID contractor Alan Gross, on his year in pre-trial detention and the family’s struggles. “I don’t think it’s a Jewish issue,” Mrs. Gross said. “The problem is between Alan and the Cuban government.” In the Baltimore Sun, Anya Landau French and Arturo Lopez Levy call Mr. Gross a well-intentioned American who is paying the price for a U.S. policy mistake.

• Miami New Times on EcuRed, Cuba’s new Wikipedia-like site.

• Granma runs a statement from Cuba’s civil aviation authorities blaming weather, icing on the plane, and pilot error for the crash of Aerocaribbean’s Santiago-Havana flight last November 4 near Sancti Spiritus. Reuters story here.