THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 OCTOBER 1968

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1961-1969
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005976405
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: September 16, 2015
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2015
• Publication Date: October 12, 1968

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The President's Daily Brief
--TotSerrrt'--12 October 1968
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THE PRESIDENT'S
DAILY BRIEF
12 OCTOBER 1968
1. Panama Sporadic gunfire is reported in
(As of 5:00 AM Panama City this morning following the
EDT) National Guard coup. The Guard moved
swiftly last night and now controls
key government and radio installations.
Arias, however, escaped to the Canal
Zone where he has asked for asylum.
Members of his Panamenista Party are
being arrested.
2. South Vietnam
3, Berlin
The Guard's move was triggered by
Arias' changes in the command structure.
Commandant Vallarino, who was being re-
tired as head of the Guard, was not im-
mediately involved in the coup, and his
role is still unclear. The front man
at the moment is a Lt. Col. Torrijos
who apparently has assumed control of
the government. Torrijos is an old
enemy of Arias and a ring-leader of op-
position to the President.
No trouble has been reported in or
along the borders of the Canal Zone.
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The Soviets are dropping thinly
veiled threats that "some unpleasant-
ness" could attend a forthcoming con-
vention of Kiesinger's Christian Demo-
cratic Union in West Berlin set for
2 November. Such unpleasantness prob-
ably would take the form of East Ger-
man harassment of access routes into
the city.
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4. Spain The Spanish military is optimistic
on base negotiations with the US.(
5, .Ghana
6. Nigeria
7, Cyprus
The military wants the base agree-
ment renewed because they want American
Amilitary aid. Their current optimism,
however, may be premature.
Two Soviet fishing trawlers were
seized by the Ghanaian Navy Thursday
night. The Ghanaians suspect the
trawlers were involved in some sort of
intelligence activity, possibly landing
men and materiel on the beach.(
There is little progress in the
talks between leaders of the Turkish
and Greek Cypriot communities. Now in
their fourth month, the talks first
snagged on the question of Turkish
Cypriot local autonomy. That was
shelved and now they are hung up on
lesser issues. Continuing the dialogue,
however, helps to keep things calm.
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8. USS Pueblo
The crew has not lost its sense
of humor. Both the Washington Star and
the New York Times yesterday carried
pictures of crewmen giving the middle
finger to their captors. Then an exami-
nation of the long petition broadcast
by Pyongyang on Tuesday, revealed this
paragraph:
"We, as conscientious human beings
who were cast upon the rocks and shoals
of immorality by the tidal wave of
Washington's naughty policies, know
that neither the frequency nor the dis-
tances of these transgressions into the
territorial waters of this sovereign
peace-loving nation matter because, in
the final analysis, penetration however
slight is sufficient to complete the
act."
The last line is close to a verba-
tim quote for the legal definition of
rape; "the rocks and shoals" is an ob-
vious,reference to the old Navy regula-
tions.
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Top Secret
FOR THE PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY
1.) Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
.) North Vietnamese Reflections of U S
Political Attitudes
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16
^
12 October 1968
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Special Daily Report on North Vietnam
for the President's Eyes Only
12 October 1968
I, NOTES ON THE SITUATION
-Front Officials Arrive in Paris: The Liberation
.Front officials who will officially open the informa-
tion office in Paris finally arrived on 11 October.
-According to Western press reports, the Communists had
prepared an elaborate reception at the airport, but
the two officials were hustled out of the airport
through another entrance and were not allowed to make
.a grand entrance. Hanoi's permanent diplomatic
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representative in Paris, Mai Van Bo, and a prominent
member of the North Vietnamese delegation to the
peace talks, Ha Van Lau, were at the airport to
greet the delegation.
On Repatriation: North Vietnam's Foreign Minis-
try has scored the repatriation of Vietnamese from
northeast Thailand to South Vietnam.
In a statement broadcast on 9 October, the minis-
try charged this program violated agreements between
the North Vietnamese and Thai Red Cross organizations
as well as international law. The statement indicated
the Vietnamese were being forced to repatriate and
said the Thai Government will "bear full responsibility
for all consequences" unless the program is halted.
The Vietnamese involved in this repatriation from
Thailand's troubled northeast are generally sympa-
thetic to Hanoi and have been unwilling to voluntarily
submit to the move.
Radio Reports Saigon Rumors: Hanoi Radio re-
ported the coup rumors in Saigon in a brief broadcast
on its international service yesterday. It was
sourced largely to Western press accounts and con-
cluded that the coup rumors were probably a ploy by
President Thieu to replace more of the Ky men still
in the cabinet.
* * *
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II. .NORTH VIETNAMESE REFLECTIONS OF US POLITICAL
ATTITUDES ON THE WAR
Hanoi Radio Notes Baltimore Rally: Hanoi Radio,
in its international service, has publicized an anti-
war rally held in Baltimore on .7 October. The broad-
cast on 11 October claimed that more than 2,000 people
gathered in front of the court house in support of
nine young Americans on trial for burning draft cards.
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