CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1961/04/17

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02001985
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2020
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2020
• Publication Date: April 17, 1961

vibe
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985 3.3(h)(2) /
3.5(c) /
17 April 1961
79
valr
Copy No.
CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
-TOP-SEC-RET-
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001904
-110-1a�StettrT-
-T1W-SEeRET�
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
litad
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
CONTENTS
1. Laos. (Page t)
17 April 1961
2, Congo-Ghana: Recent bloc arms shipment to Ghana re-
ported destined for Gizenga. (Page tt)
3. Cuba. (Page tt)
4. Soviet ICBM test of 15 April.
(Page tt)
5. USSR: Khrushchev dismisses top leaders in Tadzhik-
istan. (Page tit)
6. South Korea: Seoul prepares security measures for
anniversary of revolution. (Page ttt)
7. Bolivia: Paz Estenssoro arrests Communist leaders
in continued campaign against opposition. (Page ft)
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
AjApproved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
wog
Luan6 Prabang
SAYABOURY
NORTHERN LAOS
40 GOVERNMENT Forces in
4611, KONG LE - PATHET LAO I Contact
KONG LE - PATHET LAO AREAS
- ROAD
0
---TRAIL I
ROUTE NUMBER
610417
50
STATUTE MILES
� Nam Bac
Sam
XIENGMuon tri
r�-� piaine OUANG
Soui an Ban
Phou Khoun
SAM NEUA
Xieng Khouang
�sQ Ph
Ban Ta Viang
"Nds T ha Th
13 ang Vieng
VIENTIANE Borikhan$%.
Pak Sane
.4 Kam Keut
: a
k Sa
Vientiane
KHAMM UANE-
hommar
Thakhek
avannakhet
17 Apr 61 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Map Page
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
-
/
/ A
r
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
17 April 1961
DAILY BRIEF
Laos:S4overnment forces on 15 April evacuated Nhom-
maraal-r8 miles northeast of Thakhek, after receiving enemy
105 mm. howitzer and 120 mm. mortar fire. On the previouse4c1
day, an attempted government attack eastward from the town
had been repulsed by heavy enemy mortar fire. Recently ar-"',
rived reinforcements have brought the government's strength
In this area to over 1,000 men, but the troops' morale is lowA,
and their quality poor. Nhommarat was the government's key I.J.Lid--(-)
blocking position against the threat of an attack on the Mekong
r-
s
River port town of ThakhelO A
ZAn enemy force estimated at two battalions has taken the
strongpoint at Ban Pha, about 15 miles southwest of Xieng
Khouang town.
the attack was executed by a combined Pathet
Lao - Vietnamese force. However, Meo guerrilla forces still
hold the high ground in the area-D
(Backup, Page 1) (Map)
,I3
WA
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
z z
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
Congo-Ghana0eneral Alexander, the British national
who heads the Ghanaian armed forces, told the American
ambassador in Accra on 14 April that the arms which recently
arrived in Ghana aboard a Soviet ship were destined for Gizenga.
Alexander said Nkrumah told him he had been forced to yield
to bloc pressure to provide a base for air shipments of the arm
to Stanleyville. Nkrumah reportedly promised that the equip-
ment would not be sent to the Congo as long as UN forces were
there; however, Alexander stated he had little faith in these as-
surances, since he believed the bloc could bring sufficient pres-
sure on Accra to force completion g)f the operation. Alexander
said the IL-18s and Britannias based in Accra could make the
direct flight to Orientale, although there is no corroboration of
his statement that aviation fuel for the return trip is available
in Stanleyville.3
(Backup, Page 2)
Cuba: The Castro regime has reacted with alarm to the
bombing of three Cuban airfields on 15 April--mobilizing the
200,000-man Revolutionary Militia and making charges at the
UN General Assembly of "direct US aggression." This alarm
seems to derive not only from the actual military damage but
also from the new indication of mounting disaffection in Cuba's
regular military forces. The events of 15 April will further re- /9 a--
duce the air force's already low combat potential, at least until
the return to Cuba of air force personnel now being trained in
bloc countries, Castro now must rely even more heavily upon
the Revolutionary Militia on the assumption that it is the only po-
litically dependable military arm of his government.
*The anti-Castro Cuban Revolutionary Council has announced
that an invasion of Cuba has been carried out by Cuban liberation
forces, A Cuban radio station reports that an invasion force land-
ed in the central Cuban province of Matanzas and that militia
forces there have called for reinforcements.
*USSR: An ICBM test vehicle was launched from Tyura Tam
at approximately 1359 GMT (0859 EST) on 15 April. The launch-
ing is considered to have been generally successful in that the 7)-5--
vehicle succeeded in reaching the Kamchatka Peninsula. Pre-
liminary analysis indicates that the vehicle
17 Apr 61
DAILY BRIEF
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
'Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
*WI
impacted some 60 to 70 nautical miles from the usual impact
area. The Soviet range-instrumentation ships were not in-
volved in the operation; they, appear to have begun their return
voyage to Petropavlovsk the morning of 14 April.
This is the ninth test shot this year of probable ICBMs
from Tyura Tam. Four of these were failures. The total of
generally successful test ICBM launchings to date is 33.
Li DOM 11U nring ui MU LILL ee Lup lUcLUel LU UL U OUVIGi,
Republic of Tadzhikistan, announced in Moscow on 16 April,
is the most severe shake-up in any republic since Khrushchev
last January undertook a campaign to purge the party and gov-
ernment bureaucracies of corrupt and incompetent officials.
The presence of party presidium member Frol Kozlov, Khru-
shchev's second-in-command, to oversee the Tadzhik shake-up
dramatizes the seriousness with which the regime views the
problem of corruption, which is widespread throughout the So- () K
viet Union. All three Tadzhik officials were charged with fraud
and falsification of agricultural reports and were expelled from
the party. This is the heaviest punishment of officials at this
level in the current campaign. Previously two members of the
presidium of the Communist party of the Soviet Union and a num-
ber of the party's central committee members were demoted, but
they apparently remained party members. The campaign, now in
its sixteenth week, is the most extensive since Khrushchev came
to power and presages a substantial turnover in members of the
new central committee to be elected at the party congress next
October.
South Korea: Failure of the Chang 1Viyon government to
meet extravagant public expectations is largely responsible for
the widespread feeling of dissatisfaction and hopelessness among (
South Koreans on the first anniversary of the April revolution.
The lack of an acceptable leader to replace Chang will favolt:
17 Apr 61
DAILY BRIEF iii
TOP SECRET
/
Approved for Release: 2020/08/11 CO2001985
f