Odds and ends

• More than 113,000 licenses for small entrepreneurs have been issued since late October, according to Prensa Latina.

• Reuters: Petrobras got into the Cuba oil business in 2008 and is now out, it was announced last week by a Brazilian official visiting Havana.

• Reuters: Layoffs are proceeding slowly in Camaguey and other eastern provinces and the wait and uncertainty are causing anxiety. Speaking of bad news, the Fidel pearl-of-wisdom on the front page of Thursday’s Granma is from 1960: “A good leader often is the one who has to say the most difficult things…”

• The Toronto Star on Cuban ballet dancers who stayed in Toronto after a recent tour. One who abandoned Cuba’s Ballet Nacional years ago says the dancers are stifled in that classical troupe and seek broader artistic horizons.

• BBC Mundo on the incidence of abortion in Cuba.

• To the list of airports approved for Cuba flights, add Florida’s Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood (and don’t tell Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio).

• EFE: The mother of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and 12 relatives now have visas to enter the United States as refugees.

• Herald: An apparent alien smuggler in distress in Cuban waters decided to phone a friend in Hialeah, who called the Coast Guard. All are safe and sound, and some are under investigation.