Engage Cuba, a US lobby initiative in favor of US-Cuba relations

Coalition president James Williams told reporters covering today the third round of US-Cuba talks on diplomatic relations in Washington about the importance of taking advantage of the current situation to advance relations between the two countries.

Engage Cuba will be officially launched on June 16 to promote at the US Congress a rapprochement between the United States and the island.

"Cuba has much to offer in the areas of arts, history, music, environmental policies, which are issues that united many people that have a different way of thinking, Williams said and added that there are people that look at Cuba as an opportunity for trade and money, but others see in Cuba the possibility to resort to arts as a source of change and Engage Cuba wants to bring together all those voices and take them to the US Congress.

Meanwhile, coalition senior advisor Luke Albee said that they are currently identifying new members for the coalition and giving them information, promoting trips to the island, and at the same time expressing the opinion of the US people that the blockade of Cuba is a failed policy. Albee noted that it is quite difficult to explain a young American that he cannot travel to Cuba, something which he described as nonsense.

According to the executives, Engage Cuba counts on several politicians both democrats and republicans with close relations to the congressional leadership and the business community.