France's Hollande calls for end to US embargo on Cuba

French President Francois Hollande called Monday for an end to the US embargo on Cuba during a historic visit to the island, the first by a Western leader since Washington and Havana moved to restore ties.

Speaking on the trade and financial embargo in place since 1962, Hollande said France will do whatever possible to see that "the measures that have so badly harmed Cuba's development can finally be lifted, repealed."

Hollande, the first French president ever to visit Cuba, said his trip came "at a particularly important but also uncertain time," as both the United States and the European Union seek to restore diplomatic relations with Havana.

France will do what it can to "see that opening reaffirmed," he said in an address at the University of Havana.

Since announcing in December that the United States and Cuba would move to renew ties after more than half a century, President Barack Obama has used his executive authority to relax several aspects of the US embargo, including restrictions on travel and sending money to the island.

He has called on Congress to lift the full embargo, but with both houses under Republican control, he faces an uphill political battle.