MINUSTAH RENEWAL: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC STRONGLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002180 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR C WARD AND E JAFFEE E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2017 TAGS: PREL KPKO HA DR SUBJECT: MINUSTAH RENEWAL: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC STRONGLY SUPPORTS REF: A. STATE 127801 ¶B. 06 SANTO DOMINGO 2962 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Roland W. Bullen, Reasons 1.4(b),(d) ¶1. (SBU) Economic-Political Counselor delivered Ref A talking points on renewal of the MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission to Deputy Foreign Minister Trullols. Trullols replied that, "We support you 100 percent. The better Haiti gets, the better for us." The Deputy FM explained Dominican reasoning as follows: Improved security in Haiti leads to increased foreign investment there. Investment, in turn, creates demand for Haitian labor, which results in less migration pressure from Haiti. ¶2. (U) ECOPOLCOUNS asked if the Dominicans would attend the meeting of the Haiti Key Players Group on the margins of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Trullols replied that, "Of course we will," but then added that schedules are tight at UNGA and that it would be best if the U.S. consulted with the Key Players on dates before scheduling the meeting. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: In an aside, Trullols described the relationship between Dominican FM Morales and Haitian FM Clerisme as excellent, noting that the two had spent time together during the recent Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran and that Morales was traveling to the Casa de Campo holiday resort with Clerisme on September 19. This represents a warming of the personal relationship since September 2006, when Morales described Clerisme to us as "pro-Aristide," "up to no good," and "anti-Dominican" (Ref B). (U) This report and additional information can be found on Embassy Santo Domingo's SIPRNET site, http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/santodomingo/ BULLEN