THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 7 MARCH 1966

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005968190
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 7, 1966

? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A004300360001-0
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
7 MARCH 1966
23
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DAILY BRIEF
7 MARCH 1966
1. Guatemala
2. Ecuador
3. Syria
Backers of Julio Cesar.Mendez and
the Revolutionary Party are claiming
victory on the basis of their own tabu-
lation of the vote. Their figures show
that Mendez now has 129,300 votes, with
68,900 for Ponciano and 67,700 for Agui-
lar, the government's candidate.
The US defense attach?n Guatemala
City stressed that none of these figures
is official ?and that the electoral coun-
cil ?has stopped releasing reports. The
next tabulation is ?not expected until
late tonight or early tomorrow.
If no one gets an absolute major-
ity of the vote, the congress will have
to decide between the two top candidates
when it meets in May.
The military junta has made a num-
ber of inept or highly controversial
moves recently which have aroused al-
most all of Ecuador's still important
civilian leaders. As a result a new
front has been formed by leaders of
several political parties'
Military unity?the key to stabil-
ity--still seems to be intact at the
moment, but our ambassador believes
that the government could be upset with
little warning.
_There maybe violence in Damascus
tomorrow in connection with Celebrations
commemorating three years of Baathist
rule. Other festivities had been planned
in Aleppo, but they apparently have been
called off--probably because of uncertainty
there over the loyalty of the military.
Some disgruntled army elements?particu-
? larly the key units on the Israeli border--
might even take advantage of disorders to
try a countercoup
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4. Ghana
5. Soviet Union
6. India-Pakistan
Ambassador Battle raises the pos-
sibility that Nasir will try to take
over the leadership of a radical Afri-
can group dedicated to returning Nkrumah
to power. The ambassador notes that an
Egyptian official has been trying to
line up hotel rooms in Cairo "for a con-
ference of all countries opposed to the
Ghanaian regime" later in the month.
Nkrumah, along with Guinea's Sekou
Toure, flew to Mali today apparently in
an effort to get some kind of support
from President Keita.
Reports from New Delhi indicate
that the Indo-Pakistani talks last week
in Rawalpindi were a total failure.
The Pakistanis were only interested in
discussing the Kashmir question, an is-
sue on which the Indians of course re-
fused to negotiate. Both sides were
disappointed at this setback to the im-
plementation of the Tashkent declara-
tion, but are being careful to keep the
door open for more high-level exchanges.
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7, South Vietnam.
8. Cuba
The government will risk a break-
down in its relations with the power
fill Chinese business community in.Sai-
gon if it carries out the death sentence
handed down today against a wealthy:busi-
nessman of Chinese descent. .The business-
man was found guilty of profiteering,
and the case has become a test of Ky's
vaunted anticorruption policy.
On the political side, there is
continuing progress in the selection of
members for the advisory "Council for
Building Democracy." The ruling Direc-
torate now hopes to announce the forma-
tion of the council by the middle of
next week.
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TOP SECRET
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