Odds and ends

• Cuban media continue covering the Snowden case without mentioning that he has requested asylum in Cuba.  These articles discuss his requests to Brazil and Russia, and this foreign ministry statement slams U.S. pressure on other countries.

• There were changes in the membership of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, including the departure of U.S. expert and former National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon.  The changes represent a “natural process,” the Granma story says.  Raul Castro recalled an agreement made in the last party conference by which members of party committees “at all levels should submit their resignations from their posts when they consider that the reasons for their elections no longer obtain.”  Hence Alarcon and four others, all of whom had left high-level posts elsewhere, left the Central Committee.  Here’s the list of the Central Committee’s 112 members, not yet updated.  More from BBC.

• Radio Marti on the changes in the Cuban penal code that opens the door for reduced sentences in criminal cases.

• The Herald on the latest twist in the case of former Rep. David Rivera’s re-election campaign.

• Financial Times on Cuba’s real estate market.

• El Nuevo has an affectionate profile of the guys at Babalu, ten years into their enterprise.

• “There’s an awful lot to like about this kid,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after seeing Cuban phenom Yasiel Puig play with the Dodgers last month.  More from Bill Plashke in the Los Angeles Times.

Odds and ends

• Herald: One of Rep. Joe Garcia’s staffers is gone and another is on leave after the feds searched their homes in an election fraud probe.  During last year’s Democratic primary election they allegedly went on-line, using computers with masked IP addresses, to request absentee ballots in the names of hundreds of voters.  It is not clear from any of the articles how they planned to obtain the absentee ballots, once issued.  In the event, authorities smelled something fishy and did not act on the requests.  Garcia says he did not know of the scheme.  He is cooperating in the investigation and conducting his own investigation, and while he is angry about the scheme, he said: “I think it was a well-intentioned attempt to maximize voter turnout.”  Strange.  The primary was already marred by apparent fraud in the case of David Rivera’s straw-man candidate Justin Lamar Sternad.  Now it appears to be bipartisan.

• Herald: The Florida law designed to punish the Brazilian firm Odebrecht for the business it does in Cuba was struck down by a federal appeals court.  Earlier note on the Florida law here.

·         Progreso Weekly interviews Jorge Pinon of the University of Texas on Cuba’s energy future.  Note his comments on ethanol, the untapped resource that could revive sugar production, creating jobs and producing by his estimate 70,000 barrels of the fuel per day.  See also Reuters on the Russian company Zarubezhneft that is abandoning a deep-water exploration project and says it will be back next year.

• El Pais on the difficult story of the 115 Cuban dissidents who were released from jail and went to Spain (along with 650 relatives) in 2011: “big intentions, insufficient planning, too many surprises, and very few resources.”

·         Diario de Cuba: Cuba’s national baseball team will come to the United States to play a few games next month.  As for Cubans in the majors, the Dodgers called up outfielder Yasiel Puig and he’s not doing badly, hitting a grand slam last night; see also here and here.

• JTA: Jailed USAID contractor Alan Gross settled his lawsuit with DAI, his employer, and his separate suit against the U.S. government was dismissed.  There’s more at Along the Malecon.  CNN reports that Cuba will permit a U.S. doctor to examine Gross; last September his family requested such an examination.

·         Havana Times has an English translation of an interview that the BBC’s Fernando Ravsberg did with Rene Gonzalez, one of the “Cuban Five” intelligence agents who completed his sentence in the United States and has returned to Cuba.

• El Pais interviews economics professor Carmelo Mesa-Lago on the economic reforms in Cuba.

Odds and ends

• Cuba’s Cardinal Ortega was impressed with statements that Cardinal Bergoglio made about the state of the Cathilic church just before he was elected to the papacy; he asked for a written version and the Argentine obliged him the next morning, saying Ortega could make the remarks public.  He reiterated that permission days later as pope.  Cardinal Ortega released the text in a mass in Havana, and Palabra Nueva tells the story.  See also EFE, Café Fuerte.

• Rep. Cathy Castor of Tampa on the futility of U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba.

• Roberto Zurbano in the New York Times on Afro-Cubans’ unequal opportunities in an era of reform.

• From strategist Steve Schale, a sober look at the numbers in Miami-Dade – registration, demographics, and recent voting behavior.

• With the passing of Bebo Valdes, all the more reason to take my advice and see this movie, where he composed, arranged, and performed.  Obits from the New York Times and Café Fuerte.

• The New York Times on Cuba’s first transgendered public official.

• Writing in CubaEncuentro, sociologist Haroldo Dilla supports the call for an independent investigation of the death of Oswaldo Paya but is less than impressed with the Spanish Partido Popular activist who drove the car in which Paya died: “Carromero was, and continues to be, a joke in bad taste for the European right.  He was a toxic gift that came at a high price: the death of two opposition activists, including one of its most renowned leaders.”

• Granma runs a post-mortem on Cuba’s elimination from the World Baseball Classic and concludes that Cuban players have skill but need more nerve.  Conclusion: more high-stakes tournament play needs to be built into Cuba’s baseball program at all age levels.

Odds and ends

Lots of catching up to do:

• Granma has reported on the state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ health by running the text of Venezuelan government statements, and there has been no sugarcoating.  From the December 30 statement: “Nineteen days after the complex operation, the state of health of President Chavez continues to be delicate, presenting complications that are being treated in a process that is not without risks.”  The January 3 statement told of a “severe pulmonary infection.”  The Washington Post looks at the situation in Venezuela as January 10 approaches, the day that Chavez is to be sworn in to a new term in Caracas, and a day he will surely spend in Havana.  According to USA Today, it’s possible that Venezuela’s Supreme Court would travel to Havana to administer the oath.

• Herald: A David Rivera retrospective.

• A December 28 (April Fool’s) chronicle of the First Lady’s visit to Cuba.

• In last month’s Palabra Nueva, an article of mine recapping the U.S. election.

• Granma: The restoration of El Cristo, the statue that overlooks Havana from a promontory across the bay, is done.

• Herald: With the retirement of an office worker and a welder, there are no more Cubans crossing through the Guantanamo naval base gate to work every day.  Among their duties was to carry cash – more than $40,000 per month – to pay the pensions of Guantanamo retirees in their community.  In this story, the Herald’s Carol Rosenberg reports that the Navy has worked out a way to keep the pension payments flowing each month, but it won’t say what it is.