Odds and ends

• Tampa Chamber of Commerce chief Robert Rohrlack asks Senator Rubio to stop trying to block applications from Tampa International and other airports to handle Cuba flights. Sorry Bob, you’re with Marco, or you’re with the terrorists!

• In a hearing, Congressman Rivera elicits this statement about jailed USAID contractor Alan Gross from Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela: “I’ll agree with you he is a hostage.”

• AP has a colorful article on the tribulations of vegetarians in Cuba.

• Reuters: Coffee is one bright spot for agricultural reform, with indications that the current harvest will top last year’s record-low by 20 percent.

• EFE: Documents released by a group of 15 dissidents call for more reforms than the Cuban government is offering: more economic and political freedom in general, a less restricted opening to small enterprise, ability to buy and sell homes, and more.

• Got tennis elbow? Radio Rebelde has a ton of dietary remedies.

• Reuters on Cuba’s battle of ideas in cyberspace. Secretary Clinton spoke recently about the “freedom to connect” in global terms and noted: “In Cuba, the government is trying to create a national intranet, while not allowing their citizens to access the global internet.”