CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/02/15

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
03179145
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RIPPUB
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U
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12
Document Creation Date: 
October 25, 2019
Document Release Date: 
October 31, 2019
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Publication Date: 
February 15, 1956
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PDF icon CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULL[15742109].pdf349.48 KB
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 /filf #7,0A -4> 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) Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 \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 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 RFCRIPT Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 '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 SECRET Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 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 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 10 SECRET Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145 ;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 TC1P .c,reprr Approved for Release: 2019/10/23 C03179145