THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 6 FEBRUARY 1965

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005967505
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: February 6, 1965

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A003400410001-4
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
6 FEBRUARY 1965
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DAILY BRIEF
6 FEBRUARY 1965
1, South Vietnam
2. Laos
3. Sudan
4. Cuba
In talking to McGeorge Bundy yes-
terday, General Khanh concentrated
largely on eliciting information about
US intentions. He asked whether the
US could accept a military chief of
government, suggesting that he has not
abandoned the idea of his own acces-
sion. Khanh also said he is having
some trouble forming the new civilian-
military council but hopes to have one
next week.
Generals Phoumi and Siho have
turned up in Thailand, still with the
hope of assembling forces for a march
on Vientiane. The Laotian Government
has made a strong demarche to Bangkok
insisting that they be placed under
house arrest far from the border.
A coalition of conservative politi-
cal, military, and religious leaders
intends to demand an immediate and
drastic reduction of Communist influence
in the present government. If its de-
mands are not met, the group is prepared
to stage a coup, possibly within the
next few days.
A public trial of Joaquin Ordoqui,
an old-guard pre-Castro Communist, for
collaboration with Batista authorities
is probably forthcoming. This will
bring into the open again the long-
simmering tensions between Cuba's "old"
and "new" Communists and conceivably
might lead to a purge of the Moscow-
favored old-liners. However, Castro,
for fear of Moscow's reaction, will prob-
ably keep it from going that far. De-
tails are at Annex.
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5, Greece
Leftists sponsored the parliamen-
tary motion adopted today to try former
Prime Minister Karamanlis for alleged
abuses of office. This apparent Com?
-
munist effort to distract public.atten-
tion from the USSR's pro-Turkish stand
on Cyprus is being supported tacitly by
Prime Minister Papandreou for his own
purposes. He seems to be trying to
deflect attention from the shortcomings
and mounting problems of his.administra-
tion.
The US Embassy feels that Greek
conservatives will be further alarmed
by this example of growing Communist
"boldness" under Papandreou's regime.
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ANNEX
Castro and the Cuban Communists
Cuba's "new" Communists--those who are loyal
to Fidel above all else--have long castigated the
pre-Castro Communists for waiting until the eve of
victory to join the Castro revolution. Moreover,
they argue that the old-line, Moscow-oriented Com-
munists are not loyal supporters of Castro and the
"Cuban revolution."
The friction between these factions was sharply
defined in March 1962 when old-guard Communist leader
Anibal Escalante was publicly tried and exiled for,
in effect, attempting to edge Castro's new Communist
followers out of the hierarchy of his new Marxist-
Leninist party and to replace them with former old-
line Communists.
The trial of Marcos Rodriguez last March for
betraying four Cuban revolutionaries to Batista in
1957 was the next public chapter in this feud. Dur-
ing the trial, the new Communists charged that the
old Communists had been behind the betrayal. This
trial disclosed that Joaquin Ordoqui, a pre-Castro
Communist leader, and his wife had befriended
Rodriguez after the betrayal and, in a sense, had
covered up for him.
Ordoqui 's wife was eased out last summer, and in
November, Ordoqui himself was publicly suspended
from his post as Cuban military quartermaster and
from the party directorate. Cuba's new Communists
have been pressing Castro hard for a public trial of
Ordoqui.
The Ordoqui issue has created a dilemma for
Castro. His own power position seems unchallenged
now. However, one plan for assuring this has been
to play one Communist group off against another and
a show trial now of a prominent old-guard Communist
could shatter the vestiges of the pre-Castro party.
(Continued)
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Moreover,
/should a trial
lead to a purge of old-line Communists, it could
severely jolt Havana's relations with Moscow. Pre-
sumably Castro wishes to avoid this.
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