CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1961/04/17

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
02001985
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
16
Document Creation Date: 
August 14, 2020
Document Release Date: 
August 27, 2020
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 17, 1961
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PDF icon CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULL[15815746].pdf766.43 KB
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vibe Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 3.3(h)(2) / 3.5(c) / 17 April 1961 79 valr Copy No. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN -TOP-SEC-RET- Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001904 -110-1a�StettrT- -T1W-SEeRET� Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 litad CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN CONTENTS 1. Laos. (Page t) 17 April 1961 2, Congo-Ghana: Recent bloc arms shipment to Ghana re- ported destined for Gizenga. (Page tt) 3. Cuba. (Page tt) 4. Soviet ICBM test of 15 April. (Page tt) 5. USSR: Khrushchev dismisses top leaders in Tadzhik- istan. (Page tit) 6. South Korea: Seoul prepares security measures for anniversary of revolution. (Page ttt) 7. Bolivia: Paz Estenssoro arrests Communist leaders in continued campaign against opposition. (Page ft) Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 AjApproved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 wog Luan6 Prabang SAYABOURY NORTHERN LAOS 40 GOVERNMENT Forces in 4611, KONG LE - PATHET LAO I Contact KONG LE - PATHET LAO AREAS - ROAD 0 ---TRAIL I ROUTE NUMBER 610417 50 STATUTE MILES � Nam Bac Sam XIENGMuon tri r�-� piaine OUANG Soui an Ban Phou Khoun SAM NEUA Xieng Khouang �sQ Ph Ban Ta Viang "Nds T ha Th 13 ang Vieng VIENTIANE Borikhan$%. Pak Sane .4 Kam Keut : a k Sa Vientiane KHAMM UANE- hommar Thakhek avannakhet 17 Apr 61 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Map Page Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 - / / A r CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN 17 April 1961 DAILY BRIEF Laos:S4overnment forces on 15 April evacuated Nhom- maraal-r8 miles northeast of Thakhek, after receiving enemy 105 mm. howitzer and 120 mm. mortar fire. On the previouse4c1 day, an attempted government attack eastward from the town had been repulsed by heavy enemy mortar fire. Recently ar-"', rived reinforcements have brought the government's strength In this area to over 1,000 men, but the troops' morale is lowA, and their quality poor. Nhommarat was the government's key I.J.Lid--(-) blocking position against the threat of an attack on the Mekong r- s River port town of ThakhelO A ZAn enemy force estimated at two battalions has taken the strongpoint at Ban Pha, about 15 miles southwest of Xieng Khouang town. the attack was executed by a combined Pathet Lao - Vietnamese force. However, Meo guerrilla forces still hold the high ground in the area-D (Backup, Page 1) (Map) ,I3 WA Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 z z Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 Congo-Ghana0eneral Alexander, the British national who heads the Ghanaian armed forces, told the American ambassador in Accra on 14 April that the arms which recently arrived in Ghana aboard a Soviet ship were destined for Gizenga. Alexander said Nkrumah told him he had been forced to yield to bloc pressure to provide a base for air shipments of the arm to Stanleyville. Nkrumah reportedly promised that the equip- ment would not be sent to the Congo as long as UN forces were there; however, Alexander stated he had little faith in these as- surances, since he believed the bloc could bring sufficient pres- sure on Accra to force completion g)f the operation. Alexander said the IL-18s and Britannias based in Accra could make the direct flight to Orientale, although there is no corroboration of his statement that aviation fuel for the return trip is available in Stanleyville.3 (Backup, Page 2) Cuba: The Castro regime has reacted with alarm to the bombing of three Cuban airfields on 15 April--mobilizing the 200,000-man Revolutionary Militia and making charges at the UN General Assembly of "direct US aggression." This alarm seems to derive not only from the actual military damage but also from the new indication of mounting disaffection in Cuba's regular military forces. The events of 15 April will further re- /9 a-- duce the air force's already low combat potential, at least until the return to Cuba of air force personnel now being trained in bloc countries, Castro now must rely even more heavily upon the Revolutionary Militia on the assumption that it is the only po- litically dependable military arm of his government. *The anti-Castro Cuban Revolutionary Council has announced that an invasion of Cuba has been carried out by Cuban liberation forces, A Cuban radio station reports that an invasion force land- ed in the central Cuban province of Matanzas and that militia forces there have called for reinforcements. *USSR: An ICBM test vehicle was launched from Tyura Tam at approximately 1359 GMT (0859 EST) on 15 April. The launch- ing is considered to have been generally successful in that the 7)-5-- vehicle succeeded in reaching the Kamchatka Peninsula. Pre- liminary analysis indicates that the vehicle 17 Apr 61 DAILY BRIEF Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 *WI impacted some 60 to 70 nautical miles from the usual impact area. The Soviet range-instrumentation ships were not in- volved in the operation; they, appear to have begun their return voyage to Petropavlovsk the morning of 14 April. This is the ninth test shot this year of probable ICBMs from Tyura Tam. Four of these were failures. The total of generally successful test ICBM launchings to date is 33. Li DOM 11U nring ui MU LILL ee Lup lUcLUel LU UL U OUVIGi, Republic of Tadzhikistan, announced in Moscow on 16 April, is the most severe shake-up in any republic since Khrushchev last January undertook a campaign to purge the party and gov- ernment bureaucracies of corrupt and incompetent officials. The presence of party presidium member Frol Kozlov, Khru- shchev's second-in-command, to oversee the Tadzhik shake-up dramatizes the seriousness with which the regime views the problem of corruption, which is widespread throughout the So- () K viet Union. All three Tadzhik officials were charged with fraud and falsification of agricultural reports and were expelled from the party. This is the heaviest punishment of officials at this level in the current campaign. Previously two members of the presidium of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and a num- ber of the party's central committee members were demoted, but they apparently remained party members. The campaign, now in its sixteenth week, is the most extensive since Khrushchev came to power and presages a substantial turnover in members of the new central committee to be elected at the party congress next October. South Korea: Failure of the Chang 1Viyon government to meet extravagant public expectations is largely responsible for the widespread feeling of dissatisfaction and hopelessness among ( South Koreans on the first anniversary of the April revolution. The lack of an acceptable leader to replace Chang will favolt: 17 Apr 61 DAILY BRIEF iii TOP SECRET / Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 f