Friday, May 13, 2011

Odds and ends

  • Reuters: At a conference in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Cuban officials discuss oil exploration plans and expressed commitment to meeting international safety standards.
  • The Omaha World-Herald on Cardinal Ortega’s visit to Omaha.

  • The Angels’ Kendry Morales, getting a second operation on his ankle, will miss the entire 2011 season. Awful.
  • A sad note at the end of this article on a visit by the St. Louis Jewish community to Cuba, where the author concludes that the best option for young Cuban Jews is to leave their country.
  • This really goes too far: Cuban assistance to Pakistan, in baseball. (Café Fuerte)
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousMay 17, 2011 at 7:07 PM

    This is unrelated to this particular post, but has anyone else seen this:

    http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7382516.html

    Cuba mulls pardon for U.S. contractor in spy saga

    In a high-profile spy saga between Washington and Havana, Cuba's supreme court said Monday it is assessing the appeal of convicted U.S. contractor Alan Gross, which could result in a pardon or release.

    Gross was found guilty in March of "spying and subversion" as well as "acts against the independence or territorial integrity of the state." He is serving a 15-year sentence at a Havana prison.

    "There is a pending appeal and it is being considered to grant a pardon or release on humanitarian grounds, considering that his daughter and mother are very sick," said Supreme Court President Ruben Remigio Ferro.

    Ferro said the appeal "will be resolved in the shortest time possible."

    Gross was accused of providing Internet satellite equipments to Cuban anti-government groups, a charge he denies.

    Washington, meanwhile, declared that Gross is just an employee of the "Alternative Development Company" which was helping a Cuban Jewish organization to improve communication with partners abroad. But Adela Dworin, a leader of the Cuban Jewish community, said she never met Gross. The "Alternative Development Company" has been listed by U.S. thinktanks as a private-owned company with a mission to "promote democracy abroad."

    After Gross' conviction, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter travelled to Cuba and visited him by the end of March. Carter asked Cuban authorities to release Gross, saying the man did not pose any "serious threat to the people and government of Cuba."

    Source: Xinhua

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