Washington, November 20 (RHC) –- John Hemingway, grandson of the U.S. Nobel prize writer Ernest Hemingway, has called for the end of the U.S. economic blockade against Cuba.

During a press conference held Tuesday in Washington by the Latin America Working Group, Hemingway highlighted the importance of restoring the diplomatic ties between both countries.

“I think it is important that diplomatic relations are re-established,” said Hemingway. "I believe these two countries need to finally recognize each other and do things in a normal fashion.”

The U.S. broke diplomatic relations in the 1960s and has employed a blockade against the Caribbean island ever since in an attempt to overthrow the government established by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

John Hemingway, who is also a writer, along with his brother Patrick visited Cuba in September to celebrate 60 years since their grandfather was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Hemingway brothers visited Havana and Cojimar, a small fishing village from where Ernest sailed on his fishing adventures for almost two decades, and which inspired one of his most celebrated novels, “The Old Man and the Sea.”

The novel, published in 1952, won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize, and was of crucial importance for winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

When the Swedish Academy granted the 1954 Nobel Prize, they announced through an official statement they were awarding it to Hemingway “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”