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- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Missed this one last week: Cuba’s health minister was replaced, with 78-year-old incumbent Jose Ramon Balaguer moving back to the Central Committee of the party and vice minister Roberto Morales Ojeda, 43, taking the top job. Here’s the official announcement.
- In the Houston Chronicle, the American Farm Bureau’s president makes the case for ending Cuba travel restrictions.
- The Root publishes two looks at race issues in Cuba, and promises more to come. These are from novelists Leonardo Padura and Achy Obejas.
- At Babalu, a reflection by Anastasio Blanco about a recent trip to Cuba. This sort of jumps off the page: “Barely anybody on the island knows of the political prisoners or the various democracy movements.” And this: “The satellite cards used to secure the [satellite television] signal had been smuggled into the country by some rather famous artists…many here in the U.S. have portrayed folks like those who took great risk to import the cards—and distribute them gratis—as lackeys for the regime. They are not, and we must think before making hasty accusations in the future.”
- The Washington Post’s ongoing web-based feature on leadership highlights the Ignacio Ramonet book on Fidel Castro, “cruel and charismatic” and still ticking.
- Tampa, I was reading recently, had a Cuban community that was called “little Havana” before Miami’s Calle Ocho even existed. (Later it became “Ybor City.”) Last week the Tampa Tribune sorted out the arguments about travel to Cuba, arguing that the United States out of step in “banging its drum for separation.”
- AFP: In response to a student’s question, Raul Castro gives a positive assessment of his brother’s health.
- AP: Aroldis Chapman leaves a Reds spring training game with back problems.
- The Herald runs an op-ed and links to a longer paper by Gayle McGarrity, a Jamaican who has spent years in Cuba, examining attitudes toward race in Cuban government and society.
