John Hemingway, a grandson of the renowned American writer, Nobel Prize for Literature, on Tuesday added his voice to calls on Washington to advocate for the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States, reports the news agency EFE.
At a press conference where the basis of a campaign led by the Latin America Working Group, with the participation of US and Cuban scientists to demand a deepening in the exchanges in the field of Marine Science were explained, John said it is important that restore ties after more than 50 years of estrangement, because both countries “need recognize each other at once and do things in a normal way.”
Similarly, Hemingway, journalist and writer as his grandfather urged American authorities to remove the island from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, one of the main obstacles to any approach, since, as he stated, Cuba “it is not a terrorist country, as far as I can see.”
At 54, the grandson of the author of The Old Man and the Sea had a special permission to travel to Cuba for the first time last September with his brother Patrick and other US scientists, experience that coincided with the 60th anniversary of the granting to his grandfather of the Nobel Prize for Literature and 80 years after he bought his famous yacht Pilar.
The purpose of his trip was to promote cooperation between the US and Cuba to work together in the care and preservation of natural resources and marine species in the Gulf of Florida, similar to the initiative launched by the Latin America Working Group that acknowledges that finding common ground on issues of interest to both countries is key and, therefore, demand action from President Obama to facilitate such exchanges with the island.
Jeffrey Boutwell, one of the scientists who participated in the group with Hemingway at the conference, said that they all strongly believe “that there are more issues of union between the US and Cuba that the things that divide us” and said that half a century of “failed policies” have been “totally counterproductive”.
Project members consider specific issues such as the conservation of the ocean and its species can promote relations between the two countries and launch a whole new era. To do so, they believe that Obama, using executive prerogatives, may take action without congressional approval was needed.
