France’s Hollande meets Fidel and Raul Castro in Havana

Mr Hollande is the first French president to visit Cuba since 1898, and the first Western European leader on the island since the 1980s. President Hollande and Fidel Castro spoke for an hour.

Speaking earlier on Monday at the University of Havana, Mr Hollande said France would do its utmost to ensure that “the measures which have so badly harmed Cuba’s development can finally be repealed”.

A number of high-ranking US and European politicians have visited Cuba since 17 December, when the US and Cuba announced they would move towards re-establishing diplomatic ties.

But Mr Hollande is the first Western European leader in Cuba since Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales in 1986.