CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/02/15
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03179145
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12
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October 25, 2019
Document Release Date:
October 31, 2019
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Publication Date:
February 15, 1956
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
TOP SECRET
15 February 1956
Copy No. 103
DOCUMENT NO� ._3
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
El DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS S 0
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2�10
AUTH: H9 70-2
DATE: 14 1;40 REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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iaL.A.,1ia-,1
Air
CONTENTS
1. FRENCH MAY INVITE SOVIET LEADERS TO VISIT PARIS
(page 3),
2. YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR COMMENTS ON HIS VISIT
TO KHRUSHCHEV (page 4).
3. PEIPING'S WARM RECEPTION OF THAI AND CAMBODIAN
VISITORS (page 5)0
4. REVOLT IN EL SALVADOR REPORTED PLANNED FOR
15 FEBRUARY (page 6)0
5. USSR REJECTS JAPANESE DEMANDS FOR SOUTHERN
KURILS (page 7).
6. LIBYA SEEKS SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN AMERICAN AID
(page 8).
7. CZECHS TO EXPAND TRADE WITH COLOMBIA
(page 9).
8. REBEL HOA HAO LEADER REPORTED READY TO
SURRENDER (page 10).
15 Feb 56
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 12)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
TOP SECRET
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1. FRENCH MAY INVITE SOVIET LEADERS TO
VISIT PARIS
The French embassy in London is
alerting certain British newspaper
correspondents that the French gov-
ernment is thinking seriously of
inviting Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin to Paris
following their visit to Britain. Premier Mollet is said
to favor such a move, since he would probably find it
difficult to visit Moscow himself, particularly during the
North African crisis.
Comment
The visit of the Soviet leaders to
Britain is tentatively scheduled for
the latter half of April.
Foreign Minister Pineau denied to
an American representative on 7 February that any con-
sideration had been given to inviting the Soviet leaders
to Paris. Pineau feels, however, that a Soviet invita-
tion for him and Mollet to visit Moscow is imminent.
Both he and Premier Monet have stressed to the Ameri-
can embassy that French opinion, particularly in their
own Socialist Party, does not permit them to neglect any
gesture that would dramatize France's desire for peace.
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
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\IV& VA
2, YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR COMMENTS ON HIS
VISIT TO KFIRUSHCHEV
Yugoslav ambassador Vidic in
Moscow has informed Ambassador
Bohlen that he told Khrushchev on
12 February that Yugoslavia would
not send a delegation to the 20th Party Congress, but
he would himself attend as an observer. Vidiq told
Bohlen his government is primarily interested in see-
ing if the party congress reaffirms the concept that
"each country should seek socialism by its own path."
Khrushchev, in reply to a ciuery by
Vidic, said that the chief purpose of recent Soviet state-
ments about Moscow's intention to maintain and support
the Cominform was "to maintain the right of Communist
Parties to have co-operative interparty relationships!'
He added that the Cominform as a body and mechanism
for such consultation was of secondary importance and had
not met since 1949.
Comment Yugoslavia's designation of its ambas-
sador rather than a group of party
leaders to attend the Soviet party congress underlines its
reluctance to re-establish party ties at this time. Yugo-
slav officials have been skeptical of the sincerity of the
USSR's agreement last June in Belgrade that each state
has the right to find its own path toward socialism.
Yugoslavia has repeatedly called for
the dissolution of the Cominform, while indicating a will-
ingness to "exchange experiences" with individual Com-
munist Parties-Aust as it would with "other socialist" groups--
provided a satisfactory basis could be established.
Khrushchev's reference to the second-
ary importance of the Cominform was apparently designed
to mollify the Yugoslays. Khrushchev and Bulganin last
December publicly disavowed speculation that the USSR
might dissolve the Cominform and strongly defended it as
a "generally accepted form of international contact."
15 Feb 55
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
-CIDAIPMENT
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4
3. PEIPING'S WARM RECEPTION OF THAI AND
CAMBODIAN VISITORS
Comment on:
The Chinese Communists are sparing
no efforts to convince Thailand's Econ-
omist Party leader Thep Chotinuchit
and Cambodia's Prince Sihanouk, who
are now visiting Communist China, of
Peiping's desire for close relations. Mao Tse-tung granted
one of his rare interviews to the leader of the unofficial
Thai mission on 10 February, and Premier Chou En-lai led
a high-level Chinese official delegation on 14 February to
greet Prince Sihanouk on his arrival in Peiping.
Thep is Thailand's leading advocate of
neutralism and the Chinese Communists obviously hope
that after his return to Thailand he and other members of
parliament will exploit any opportunities created by the
visit to increase pressure on government leaders for estab-
lishment of official Sino-Thai relations. Thep's trip has
already received wide and favorable publicity in Bangkok.
Prince Sihanouk, following his recent
visit to the Philippines, pointedly reaffirmed his neutral-
ist views. Peiping will probably use this opportunity to
influence him to follow the lead of other neutralist leaders
and sign a joint communiqu�ubscribing to the "five prin-
ciples of peaceful coexistence." Similar efforts will be
made to influence Mohammad Ali and Sir John Kotelawala,
prime ministers of Pakistan and Ceylon, during their forth-
coming visits to China.
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
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'taw
4 REVOLT IN EL SALVADOR REPORTED PLANNED
FOR 15 FEBRUARY
Lt, Colonel Rafael Carranza Amaya,
Salvadoran presidential candidate of
the opposition Authentic Constitutional
Party, plans a revolt on 15 February,
Comment Carranza �Amaya, who played a lead-
ing role in the 1948 revolution, has a
strong personal following within the army, and might have
sufficient military backing to effect a coup. He has been
described as "a throwback to the old-style Central Amer-
ican dictator."
Political tension in El Salvador is high,
and the danger of a military coup or of violence increases
as the 4 March elections approach. The army, which has
often taken a decisive role in the presidential succession,
is divided among supporters of the several presidential
candidates, three of whom are prominent officers.
Registration of opposition voters has
apparently been small, and
the opposition candidates
have been accumulating funds for a revolt. Moves toward
a coup may have been encouraged by the government's an-
nouncement that one of the opposition candidates was ineli-
gible.
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 6
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dia CKLiI
5� USSR REJECTS JAPANESE DEMANDS FOR
SOUTHERN KURILS
Soviet negotiator Malik rejected
demands for the return of the
southern Kurils at the 10 February
session of the Japanese-Soviet talks
in London. He said that the unconditional return of
Shikotan and the Habomais was the absolute limit of
Soviet territorial concessions and that any further Jap-
anese insistence on territories would be regarded as a
deliberate delaying tactic.
In reply to Japanese delegate Matsu-
moto's insistence that the return of the southern Kurils
is a national aspiration of the Japanese, Malik said their
retention is the national aspiration of 200,000,000 Soviet
citizens, and casually asked whether Japan was seeking
a rupture of negotiations.
Comment Malik has left London to attend the
Soviet 20th Party Congress, and talks
with the Japanese are not expected to be resumed for at
least a week or ten days.
Moscow had earlier insisted that Shikotan
and the Habomais would be returned only on the condition
that they be demilitarized.
15 Feb 56
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1_434
6, LIBYA SEEKS SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN
AMERICAN AID
Comment on:
On 11 February King Idriss told
Ambassador Tappin he believed
Libya must under no circumstances
become further involved with the
owever, Idriss echoed Prime Minister Ben
Halim's view that the "solution" to the problem of inter-
nal pressure to accept a Soviet offer lay in continued
"sympathetic consideration" of Libya's needs by the
West.
the USSR had offered Libya an unconditional
credit worth $80,000,000� Libyan officials on 7 February
presented Tappin with a new list of development projects
totaling $118,000,000, which would increase American aid
to Libya by $76,000,000 over the next five years.
These figures apparently indicate at
least the order of magnitude of the aid which the Libyans
hope to extract from the United States usin the �oviet
offer to exert pressure.
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
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tola
CZECHS TO EXPAND TRADE WITH COLOMBIA
the Czechs have decided to
.send a mission to Bogota at the
,Zend of February "to study markets
and possibilities of importing other products and to es-
tablish contacts and the basis for an initial purchase of
4,000 to 10,000 tons of coffee in a year by means of an
agreement to accept Czech imports in compensation."
The consul added that the mission will be composed of
eight or ten representatives of the Ministry of Commerce
and of import-export enterprises.
Comment Czechoslovakia has been interested
for some time in expanding its Colom-
bian market, while the always uncertain international out-
look for coffee, by far Colombia's principal export, has
been driving Colombia to seek new markets. Following
Czech demarches last fall, Colombia agreed to exchange
consuls and its consul arrived in Prague in January.
Colombian-Czech trade for the first
eight months of 1955 amounted to only about $1,400,000 and
trade with the rest of the Soviet bloc was negligible.
(Concurred in by ORR)
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
rruQrrn Ivry
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110
8, REBEL HOA HAO LEADER REPORTED READY
TO SURRENDER
At a meeting with President Diem
on 12 February, one of the Hoa Hao
rebel leaders, Tran Van Soai, asked
the terms under which the forces un-
der his control could surrender and join the government
side,
Soai is said to have returned to his troops after the meet-
ing to arrange for the end to their rebellion. Surrender
negotiations reportedly began early this month and
believes the rallying of Soai's troops is a virtual
certainty.
Comment
Soai is estimated to have 1,800 troops
loosely under his control in western
South Vietnam, and the surrender of this group would be
an important psychological victory for the government.
The Viet Minh has infiltrated these troops and some 2,000
others under Ba Cut, a more fanatical Hoa Hao leader.
The 600 Viet Minh advisers with the Hoa Hao rebels may be
able to prevent any large-scale surrender.
15 Feb 56
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;014
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 14 February)
The Syrian representative to the United Na-
tions asked on 13 February that the United States support a call
for an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider the
Banat Yacov situation. He contended his government has evi-
dence that Israel intends to resume work on the canal in the
Israeli-Syrian demilitarized zone, This Syrian move follows
Egyptian prime minister Nasr's reported advice that Syria
exhaust all diplomatic alternatives before taking military ac-
tion over Banat Yacov. The Security Council is chaired this
month by the USSR, which almost certainly would support the
Syrian point of view.
The Syrian ambassador in Washington,
advising his government to take a strong stand on the Banat
Yacov issue in order to generate Western pressure against
Israel, noted on 8 February that the Soviet ambassador had
told him "Russia is ready to assist the Arabs in undertaking
construction projects on the waters of the Jordan basin."
15 Feb 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 11
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