Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel urged on November 11 that the United States to lift its embargo against Cuba, which has been in place for over 40 years.

Speaking to the press, Rangel said, "We exhort President Clinton to end the blockade against Cuba and give impulse to an understanding, thus ending the confrontation of four decades."

The blockade has been in force for more than 40 years and Fidel Castro continues to govern the island country, which demonstrates the embargo's failure, the foreign minister noted.