THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 15 NOVEMBER 1972

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005993627
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: November 15, 1972

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The President's Daily Brief
15 November 1972
45
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category SB( )12)A3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
15 November 1972
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Campaigning has opened for the Australian election
on 2 December. The Labor Party, out of power for
23 years, is likely to make a strong pitch for votes
by taking issue with aspects of the government's de-
fense policies. (Page 1)
Uruguay's President Bordaberry is cast in the deli-
cate role of middleman between the restive military
and angry politicians in the case of a prominent
political leader who is currently under military de-
tention. (Page 2)
(Page 6)
South Vietnamese troops are advancing against Commu-
nist forces north and west of Quang Tri City. (Page 3)
At Annex we discuss the military-civilian crisis in
Uruguay.
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AUSTRALIA
? Campaigning officially opened this week for the
election on 2 December. The Labor Party, out of
power for 23 years, is making a strong bid to re-
place Prime Minister McMahon's Liberal-Country coali-
tion government. The polls suggest that the vote
will be close.
We expect defense policies to be the main
campaign issue. Labor has no quarrel with
the present level of defense expenditures.
It takes sharp issue, however, with the
government's doctrine of "forward" defense
that resulted in the commitment of Austra-
lian forces to Vietnam and the presence of
almost 3,000 Australian troops in Singapore
and Malaysia.
A Labor government might also accelerate
the trend already under way toward a more
independent international stance, but both
contenders continue to Zook on alliance
with the United States as the cornerstone
of Australian foreign policy.
1
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URUGUAY
Senator Jorge Bathe, the prominent political
leader arrested more than two weeks ago, remains
under.military detention pending a decision on how--
or whether--he will be punished for his strong de-
nunciation of growing military involvement in public
affairs. Batlle's supporters, a strong faction
within President Bordaberry's own Colorado Party,
have been unable thus far to have the case trans-
ferred to a civil court. The president continues
in the delicate role of middleman between the-res-
tive military and the angry politicians.
Tension has temporarily eased but could quickly
flare again. The spark may come later this month
when the military seeks congressional approval for
yet another period of suspended constitutional guar-
antees.
At Annex, we discuss this military-civil-
ian crisis as just one symptom of the de-
cay that in recent years has beset Uru-
guay--once Latin America's shining example
of a working democracy and a progressive
welfare state.
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NOTES
South Vietnam: South Vietnamese troops are ad-
vancing against well-entrenched Communist forces
north and west of Quang Tri City. Airborne troops,
who recaptured Fire Support Base Anne yesterday, in-
tend to move north toward Fire Support Base Pedro
and eventually as far as Cam Lo. South Vietnamese
Marines have also been clearing Communist forces
out of the area south of the Cua Viet River. Inter-
cepted messages show continuing North Vietnamese ef-
forts to reinforce Communist troops defending in
this area.
3
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URUGUAY: THE MILITARY IN A CRUMBLING UTOPIA
The recent emergence of the army as a power in
Uruguayan public life is unprecedented in this cen-
tury. It is a reflection of the steady deteriora-
tion in Uruguayan life under way since the early
1950s. Many officers feel they may be able to help
reverse the decline.' Thus some form of extra-con-
stitutional military action has become a real pos-
sibility.
During the first half of this century Uruguay
enjoyed the highest per capita wealth in Latin
America, and distributed it more equitably than any
other country in the area. An effective democratic
political system under civilian control and one of
the world's most comprehensive social welfare sys-
tems made it the symbol of Latin American enlight-
enment.
The bubble burst about 20 years ago when world
demand and prices for Uruguay's beef, hide, and
wool exports began a drastic plunge. The country
has been sliding from riches to rags ever since,
and has suffered one of the world's most devastating
inflationary spirals. It can no longer afford the
bloated costs of its welfare system and yet, polit-
ically, the government cannot afford to make the
drastic cuts and changes required to stem the tide.
--Today, about 60 percent of government ex-
penditures are paid in wages to government
workers, who make up about 25 percent of the
country's total work force.
--Agriculture is in decline, the land has not
been improved for lack of investment money
and, in the critical cattle industry, it now
takes almost double the number of steers to
produce a ton of beef that it does in the US
or Argentina.
--Industry has become less competitive because
of government subsidies and controls.
--Nineteen of the 22 government-controlled
corporations are in the red.
The prolonged economic deterioration has had
a profound effect on the lives and the attitudes
of the people, particularly the young people. De-
nied opportunities for a meaningful livelihood and
unable to see any hope in the decrepit and immobile
Al
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political system, thousands of them have emigrated.
Some of them, however, imbued with a Latin sense
of revolutionary mystique, chose to try to destroy
the system in the hope that something better might
emerge from the ashes. These formed the nucleus
of the Tupamaros, who emerged by the late 1960s as
Latin America's most formidable terrorist group.
Last April, the Tupamaros deliberately raised
the level of terrorism by gunning down four govern-
ment officials, including two police officers and
a former cabinet member. The new president, Juan
Maria Bordaberry, with uncharacteristic swiftness,
demanded that a "State of Internal War" be declared
and that the nation's armed forces lead the battle
against the terrorists. Although many of Borda-
berry's supporters in the congress, as well as his
opposition, expressed serious fears that the meas-
ures might curtail popular freedoms, they gave
Bordaberry and the military a limited period of
special powers. These included the transfer of
persons suspected of security crimes to military
jurisdiction and the suspension of constitutional
guarantees. Powers like this had been granted
under the preceding administration, but for the
first time the armed forces were to become com-
pletely involved in the anti-terrorist campaign.
In less than seven months the military has
managed to wreck a terrorist organization that had
earned the envy and respect of guerrilla groups
throughout the Western Hemisphere. This result
was achieved by a push to capture as many members
and suspects as possible, by rapid and forceful
interrogations, and by hunting down Tupamaro weap-
ons caches and hiding places. As the campaign pro-
gressed, some Tupamaros surrendered without duress,
and the organization came crashing down. Although
the Tupamaros retain some residual capability to
harass the government, it will be a long time be-
fore they could again be equipped or manned to
mount a major operation.
The success against the Tupamaros marks a
spectacular victory for the armed forces--perhaps
the first really positive step forward by any sec-
tor of Uruguayan society in two decades. The army,
which has been at the heart of the anti-terrorist
campaign, is flushed with success. Its leaders
have reasoned that their victory over the guerril-
las might possibly be translated into a campaign
to correct the many ills of the society. They have
but to look around them to see other military forces
already started down that road--in Peru, Brazil,
and Argentina. Unlike those countries, however,
Uruguay has a long and strong tradition of military
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non-involvement in politics, an officer corps that
has been generally opposed to overt political ac-
tivity, and a highly sophisticated and politicized
population that generally favors the existing demo-
cratic process.
Yet, the extensive interrogation of the Tupa-
maros and the resulting accumulation of intelli-
gence information have revealed to the military
leadership that corruption--or "economic crime"--
is a factor in the poor performance of the economy,
and a major issue on which the Tupamaros had won
popularity. More significantly, the "economic
criminals" appear to be some of the leading polit-
ical figures in the nation. Suspects include Sena-
tor Bathe, one of the major factional leaders in
Bordaberry's Colorado Party; Wilson Perreira
Aldunate, the leader of the opposition Blanco bloc
in the congress; and Jorge Peirano Facio, a former
foreign minister. Under army pressure, President
Bordaberry permitted Batlle's arrest. Batlle re-
mains in jail, and the military, having come this
far on essentially ad hoc maneuvers, must sit down
and ponder the next move.
Bordaberry's government, while notable for
quieting the threat of terrorism, has done little
to solve the problems that are causing Uruguay to
decay. No effort has been made to correct the
serious abuses of the welfare system and no moves
are planned to expand traditional exports or to
stimulate the economy in any direction. It seems
clear that the armed forces are no longer going
to be satisfied to leave the Uruguayan "mess" in
the hands of the politicians, but it is also clear
that they do not, at this stage, have a plan of
action. Continued lack of movement by Bordaberry
and the civilian government to correct the economic
slide may stimulate army pressure for action. If
the response is unsatisfactory, the long tradition
of military non-involvement could be broken.
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Top Secret
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