ILO FISCAL RESTRAINT, CUBAN CANDIDACY - DOMINICAN

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 002972 SIPDIS STATE FOR IO/T-DRISCOLL, WILSON LABOR FOR ILAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB DR AORC PREL CU BB SUBJECT: ILO FISCAL RESTRAINT, CUBAN CANDIDACY - DOMINICAN REPUBLIC DEMARCHE REF: A. STATE 94764 ¶B. STATE 94818 ¶1. Embassy on May 25 provided Ref A-B talking points in Spanish to MFA UN-OAS Director Michelle Cohen, emphasizing the importance of fiscal restraint in the proposed ILO budget for 2006-2007 and U.S. preference for Barbados over Cuba as the Caribbean candidate for the ILO Governing Body. The same day we provided the talking points to the Labor Ministry's director of international relations, Nelson Reyes, who plans to accompany Labor Minister Jose Ramon Fadul to Geneva. Reyes informed us that the Dominican Republic "is totally in agreement" with our position on the ILO budget. On the competing candidacies of Cuba and Barbados for the ILO Governing Body, Reyes said he personally would prefer Barbados because of Cuba's violations of labor union rights under ILO conventions 97 and 98. However, he said the Labor Minister would decide the Dominican Republic's position, and Reyes did not know how that would come out. HERTELL