Havana, March 31 (RHC)-- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has returned to Havana after attending the 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) in Managua, Nicaragua.  He was met at the Jose Marti International airport by Raul Castro, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on his Twitter account over the weekend that the Cuban president urged ACS member states to act and work together to preserve peace in the region.  Diaz-Canel addressed the closing session of the ACS gathering, where he insisted that unity is the only alternative of the regional nations in the face of common challenges.

The Cuban leader advocated for working together in the fight against the effects of climate change and in defense of the declaration of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, signed in Havana January 2014, at the 2nd Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

He also called for regional friendship, rejected destabilizing efforts against Venezuela and Nicaragua, and strongly criticized Washington's economic, financial and trade blockade against Cuba.