Cuba, US renew accord to preserve Hemingway legacy

Havana, March 19 (IANS/EFE) Cuba's Cultural Heritage Council and the US-based Vigia Foundation signed Tuesday the renewal of their 2002 accord to preserve the legacy of Ernest Hemingway on the island.

The president of the council, Gladys Collazo, and foundation head Jenny Phillips, signed the agreement in Havana, with Cuban Deputy Culture Minister Fernando Rojas and US Congressman Jim McGovern as witnesses.

Over the past 11 years of working together, the foundation has digitised thousands of documents and photos of Hemingway that are preserved at the house called Finca Vigia, some 15 km from downtown Havana.

The country house was for more than 20 years the writer's Cuban residence and became the Ernest Hemingway Museum after his suicide on July 2, 1961.

Collazo said that with the new accord, there will be a "deeper kind of collaboration and will take on other areas" such as "more specific" projects involving restoration and preservation of the building itself.

For her part, Phillips, granddaughter of Hemingway's editor, considered that while important work has already been done, the agreement signed Tuesday will "really be a new beginning".

Hemingway spent long seasons at Finca Vigia, from 1939 until soon before his tragic death, where he worked on some of his most famous novels, including "The Old Man and the Sea."

--IANS/EFE

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