Notes from Cuba - Wednesday, Sept. 28

Vehicles: Effective October 1, Cubans will be able to freely buy and sell existing automobiles, just like 99.99% of the rest of the world. I'll confess I did not know that such a prohibition existed, but it did. Prior to the reforms announced today, only vehicles manufactured before 1959 -- the year Fidel Castro pulled into Havana -- could be sold on the open market. The latest rules will also allow some people to buy new automobiles -- imported from other countries, of course. One restriction: only one sale or purchase every five years will be allowed.

Barack Obama: Responding to yesterday's overture by Cuba to open a dialog with the United States (see my post below), the president said that he is always ready to reconsider U.S. policy towards the island -- including the now 50 year old economic blockade. But Obama said he would have to see some real signs of democratization first, including the release of all political prisoners from the island. Presumably this would include U.S. citizen Alan Gross, who is quietly serving the early stages of his 15 year sentence for state security crimes. Since the Cubans reminded us just yesterday that relations cannot improve until the Miami Five are released, it looks like we're all back to Square One. On an official visit to Brazil today, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said that he pays no attention to anything Obama says. Query: If you tell a man on Tuesday that you'd like to open a dialog with him, how does it help to tell him on Wednesday that you pay no attention to anything he says? Who's writing the game plan in Havana these days -- and just what is it?