THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 16 MARCH 1967

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005968838
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: March 16, 1967

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2015/07/24 : CIA-RDP79T00936A005000410001-6
The President's Daily Brief
16 March 1967
23
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DAILY BRIEF
16 MARCH 1967
1. Vietnam
2. South Vietnam
General Chieu, the Directorate's
chief negotiator with the Constituent
Assembly, reports the military are un-
willing to go along with the assembly's
proposal that it serve as an interim
legislature. However, the Directorate
is amenable to extending the life of
the assembly so it can draft electoral
decrees and help monitor the forthcoming
elections.
The Directorate, according to Chieu,
thinks it should retain its legislative
as well as its executive powers until
both the new legislature and the presi-
dent are elected. He says the two elec-
tions will be held as soon and close to-
gether as possible.
Chieu claimed that the Directorate
was ready to defer to the assembly view
on most other differences. He and Am-
bassador Bui Diem think final agreement
is close at hand. The assembly, however,
may stall until after the return of the
many government officials planning to
attend the Guam conference.
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3. India
4. Tunisia
5. West Germany
Mrs. Gandhi's new government is,
as she said it would be, a combination
of old stalwarts and new blood. We do
not expect any major shifts in govern-
ment policies.
The wide spread of ideological
positions within the leadership could
cause problems as Mrs. Gandhi again
comes to grips with the country's truly
appalling domestic problems. Also,
much will depend on the ability of Mrs.
Gandhi and Deputy Prime Minister Desai
to bury the hatchet. But Ambassador
Bowles is moderately optimistic.
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6. France
7. Cuba
Officials in Paris are assuring
that Sunday's refer-
endum in French Somaliland will go
heavily in favor of continued French
rule.
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solve France's problems there. The ref-
erendum campaign has sharpened tensions
among the diverse peoples of the Colony.
A pro-France vote is almost sure to set
off riots among the Somalis, who are a
minority, and among their kin in the
Somali Republic.
A vote for independence would prob-
ably bring war between Somalia and
Ethiopia. The Somalis want Somaliland;
the Ethiopians will not put up with
Somalian control of their access to the
sea. Somalia has moved troops close to
the border/
The US press has failed to capture
the full fervor of Fidel Castro's blast
on Monday night against Moscow's policies
in Latin America. Never before has Cas-
tro been so direct on this issue in a
public speech.
Referring to recent Soviet efforts
to cozy up to such "oligarchic and treach-
erous" governments as those in Colombia
and Venezuela, Castro charged that this
amounts to helping those governments "re-
press the revolution."
Castro also castigated pro-Moscow
Latin American Communist parties for be-
traying the revolutionary struggle. He
praised the Venezuelan guerrillas, imply-
ing that he would continue supporting them.
The speech surely must be the last shovel-
ful of dirt thrown on the Moscow-inspired
agreement of November 1964 to work only
through the official Latin American Com-
munist parties.
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Top Secret
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