Odds and ends

• La Jornada reports on some trimming of organizational charts in the Cuban government, and says only one tenth of the planned reduction of one million workers from Cuban government payrolls has been accomplished. The figure I have heard is 127,000.

• A fond Laura Pollan obituary in the Economist.

• From the UN General Assembly debate on the resolution condemning the U.S. embargo against Cuba: the U.S. representative’s statement, and the Cuban foreign minister’s response. The resolution carried for the 20^th consecutive year, again with only Israel siding with the United States. The Cuban foreign ministry’s report on the effects of the embargo is here.

• The Cuban children’s theater troupe La Colmenita concluded a somewhat politicized U.S. tour during which they presented a piece dedicated to the Cuban Five; spoke by phone to one of the Cuban Five, and performed at the United Nations while Cuba’s foreign minister was present for a General Assembly debate.