the Chávez factor...and other stuff This is all just getting weirder and weirder: Hugo has ordered his brother Adán to return to Caracas from Cuba, where Adán has been serving as ambassador for two years. No explanation, and no replacement. It's worth noting, too, that Hugo himself has not visited Cuba since this all started.

There is still absolutely no sight of Raúl, and Perez Roque is hardly to be seen, either--Lage and Alarcón are totally running the show. And Fidel's good friend Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote what sounds to me an awful lot like a eulogy in Granma. The U.S. is talking about relaxing travel restrictions for Cubans in exile and is madly beaming TV Martí onto the island via a designated C130, which no one appears to be shooting down (or even really complaining about!) Castro is widely expected to at least make some kind of statement on his birthday, which is in 5 days...

**Updates: 1. I'm a big sucker. The Garcia Marquez piece was written years ago, and the editors of Granma have just trotted it out for the occasion. Shoulda known. And 2: Gustavo "Ulises" Arcos Bergnes died today, at age 79. Arcos was one of those I-rode-with-Fidel-and-the-revolution-failed-me dissidents, and a widely-known and respected one at that, but he had even more cred than most since he was shot--and paralyzed--at Moncada.  ¶ 1:32 PM