Cuba says next US president should end embargo

HAVANA — Cuba's foreign minister says whoever wins America's presidential election has an 'historic opportunity" to end Washington's 50-year embargo on the island.

Bruno Rodriguez isn't voicing a preference for either President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger in the November vote.

But he says the time has come to end the embargo, which he calls "obsolete" and a holdover of the Cold War.

Rodriguez made the comments Thursday in presenting Cuba's yearly report on the effect of the sanctions. The government puts out the report ahead of a yearly U.N. vote in which most countries will likely once again condemn the American policy.

He did not say whether his government would make any concessions in return. Cuba has said previously the U.S. must lift the sanctions unilaterally.