There's reasonably good news on the horizon for Cubans hoping to legally buy and sell homes.  In a report on the subject, BBC profiled a divorced couple - we've all heard similar stories - forced to live in the same home together for lack of an alternative.  But Granma reports that regulations should be out by the end of the year that will not only allow Cubans to buy and sell their homes, but that the transfer will be allowed to be recorded by a licensed notary, presumably cutting out the dreaded (and often opportunistic) government bureaucrats.  And that should be music to many Cubans' ears.

Speaking of music, U2's Bono mentioned former Cuban political prisoner Oscar Elias Biscet (he was one of the last prisoners released as part of an agreement with Cuba's Catholic Church) at a recent concert in Miami, following a meeting he had with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart.   Cuban American filmmaker Joe Cardona appreciated the mention and penned an op-ed offering something for everyone to agree and disagree on in The Miami Herald, on Cuban exiles, dissidents and U.S. policy:

"For the better part of my life, Cubans’ struggle against tyranny on and off the island has been unfairly undermined and dismissed by the international community as an appendage of the Cold War battle between Washington and Havana.

Given this association, it has been a struggle to get pop culture icons to back the fight for liberty in Cuba. It was a pleasant surprise, then, to hear that Bono mentioned Cuban opposition leader Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet at the U2 concert recently at Sun Life Stadium."

"Mauricio Claver-Carone is right that U.S. policymakers are often boxed in on China policy due to larger U.S. economic and global foreign policy interests (“Freedom first or business first?” Views, July 2). But China and Cuba are apples and oranges. China matters to the U.S.; Cuba does not. It is Cuba’s irrelevance to U.S. interests that keeps U.S. policy toward it stuck in the 20th century.

Mr. Claver-Carone is mistaken if he thinks U.S. policy has leveraged any freedoms for the Cuban people. Young critical activists and bloggers, such as Yoani Sánchez, make names for themselves through their own ingenuity, and sometimes as a result of contacts and income they make with foreign tourists on the island.

Now that Cuba’s Raul Castro has embraced reforms that will empower average Cubans, isn’t it finally time America reaches out to the Cuban people?"