A group of 74 well-known Cuban dissidents has sent an open letter to the US Congress, asking the Cuba travel ban to be dropped.

The letter urges Congress to pass legislation that would allow Americans to finally visit the country freely.  US citizens have not been able to travel to Cuba since the US embargo in 1960.

The letter supports a proposal brought by Minnesota Congressman Collin Peterson which would bar the US president from banning travel to Cuba or blocking transactions required to make such trips.

Among the signatories are Cuba’s well-known blogger Yoani Sanchez, Elizardo Sanchez, the head of Cuba’s most prominent human rights group, and Guillermo Farinas, a journalist who has been on hunger strike for three months demanding the release of the country’s most seriously ill political prisoners.

The BBC’s Michael Voss in Havana says it is the first time that so many Cuban dissidents have joined forces in supporting a single piece of US legislation.