Granddaughter: Cubans revere Hemingway
August 2, 1997
Web posted at: 4:41 p.m. EDT (2041 GMT)
COJIMAR, Cuba (CNN) -- Actress Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of
the renowned American author Ernest Hemingway, was awed when
she first arrived in Cuba. It seemed wherever she went, she
saw statues or photographs of her grandfather.
"Everywhere you looked there's Che (Guevara) and Fidel (Castro) and my grandfather," she said. "I mean it seems to be the three real major icons of this country."
In the quiet fishing town of Cojimar, a bust of the famous
author faces the sea he loved so much. Nearby, at the La
Terraza restaurant, pictures of Hemingway adorn the wall. A marina also is named after the author.
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Gregorio Fuentes bubbles with enthusiasm when Hemingway is
mentioned. His voice picks up a notch and his smile widens.
Fuentes, 100, was Hemingway's long-time friend and boat
captain. The boat, named The Pilar, now sits at Hemingway's
villa turned museum in Cojimar, an isolated fishing community
that was a favorite haunt of Hemingway's where he drank,
fished and told stories.
"I have never seen a man with the same heart as this man,"
Fuentes said, pointing to a picture of the author. Fuentes
added that he was with Hemingway when he came up with the
title for his famous novel, "The Old Man and the Sea."
In Old Havana, Hemingway would listen to music at the
Floridita Restaurant, joined sometimes by celebrities like
Spencer Tracy. (who played the title role in the 1958 movie,
"The Old Man and the Sea.") But so too, he was never far from
his fishermen friends of Cohimar.
Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella contributed to this report.
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