CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/11/10

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995584
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: November 10, 1955

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///////4/� CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN'
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 1�
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AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:
VIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
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CONTENTS
1. CHANGES IN ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP
RUMORED (page 3).
20 RUMORED REPLACEMENT OF BRAZILIAN WAR
MINISTER (page 4).
3. FRENCH OFFICIAL SUGGESTS NEED FOR TALKS WITH
WASHINGTON AND LONDON ON MOROCCO (page 5)0
4. TITO STATES VIEWS ON SINO-SOVIET BLOC (page 6)
5. SOVIET BLOC ARMS REPORTED ARRIVING IN
AFGHANISTAN (page 7).
6. VIET MINH PROPAGANDA POINTS TO CLOSER TIES
WITH USSR (page 8).
7. COMMENT ON PHILIPPINE ELECTION (page 9).
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 10)
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1. CHANGES IN ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP
RUMORED
eplacement of Argentine provisional
president Lonardi by a "stronger" gov-
ernment is persistently rumored. Names
most frequently mentioned as possible
ccessors, either singly or as a junta,
re Rear Admiral Isaac Rojas, who is
the vice president, Minister of the Army
Gen. Leon Bengoa, and Gene Felix Videla
charge of Cordoba Province� All three
were key figures in the ousting of Peron, and all are consid-
ered friendly to the United States
The announced resignation of General
Bengoa late on 9 November may be the forerunner of addi-
tional cabinet changes in the next few days. There are press
reports that the foreign minister, the education minister,
and possibly others, may also be replaced.
These rumors probably reflect the ten-
sion and severe strain on unity arising from the attempt of
a predominantly military regime to make a thoroughgoing
reorganization of the administration. Lacking organized
political support, the Lonardi cabinet has had to formulate
policy out of diverse opinions and ambitions. Although de-
nying Uruguayan radio reports of Lonardi's resignation, the
government has admitted that he and top military officials
are holding a series of meetings which are said to stress
the need for greater cohesion within the regime.
Controversy over the need for a stronger
executive is reported to include concern over profiteering
from the recent revision in exchange rates and the renewed
activity of Peronista groups� The arrest of 300 militant
Peronistas on 8 November and a government communiqu�
ordering civilians to turn in all arms suggest new uneasi-
ness within the regime.
Further uncertainty over the chief execu-
tive stems from Lonardi's ill-health. His son has stated that
be has high blood pressure and stomach ulcers.
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2. RUMORED REPLACEMENT OF BRAZILIAN WAR
MINISTER
Brazilian war minister Lott may
soon be replaced by General Tasso
de Oliveira Tinoco, according to
rumors reported by the American
army attach�n Rio de Janeiro.
imented that Lott's removal could "tip
the scales" in favor of a military coup to annul the re-
cent presidential election,
Comment
General Lott, a lifelong foe of mili-
tary involvement in politics, has
been one of the principal stumbling blocks to those mili-
tary elements favoring a coup.
Although President Cafe Filho, who
took indefinite leave of absence on 8 November, opposed
a military coup, the attitude of acting president Carlos Luz
toward such action is not known. The American embassy
commented on 9 November that Luz favors President-elect
Kubitschek's opponents, but there is no indication that he
is actively associated with the pro-coup faction.
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3. FRENCH OFFICIAL SUGGESTS NEED FOR TALKS WITH
WASHINGTON AND LONDON ON MOROCCO
On 8 November a high French Foreign
Ministry official raised with American
representatives in Paris "on a personal
basis" the possibility of French-American
or ripar e alks, including Great Britain, on Morocco.
The official envisages talks at the ex-
pert level on Morocco's international status if the 1912
French-Moroccan protectorate treaty of Fez and the 1906
Act of Algeciras, to which Russia is a party, are revised.
He feared the possibility of "Soviet meddling" and antici-
pated difficulty in obtaining Spanish agreement to a change
in Morocco's status. Like most Frenchmen, the official is
convinced that Spanish policy is aimed at maintaining the
status quo in Morocco, even to the point of sabotaging French-
Moroccan negotiations.
Comment Once a Moroccan government is formed
under the recently restored sultan, Ben
Youssef, French-Moroccan negotiations on internal auton-
omy are expected. Moroccan nationalists have demanded
that the treaty basis of the protectorate be changed, a de-
velopment which Paris is reluctantly coming to accept as
necessary.
Madrid has repeatedly stated it would
oppose any change in the status of Morocco without Spanish
consent and has advocated an international conference. Spain,
however, is not a party to the treaty of Fez, and Paris prob-
ably hopes to gain American and British support for changes
in that treaty to undercut any Spanish claim to be consulted.
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4. TITO STATES VIEWS ON SINO-SOVIET BLOC
President Tito told Secretary Dulles
on 6 November that he saw a gain in
influence by those Soviet leaders who
recognize the need for new policies
e ri a e e R from the "blind alley" into which it was
led by Stalin's policy. In this group he placed Bulganin,
Khrushchev, and Mikoyano He thought, however, that even
these leaders would follow the harsh Stalinist line to some
extent until they grew stronger. He believed that Stalinism
was still strong among a vast number of functionaries, par-
ticularly in the MVD.
In Tito's view the Satellites are also
abandoning Stalinist policies. Although the masses more
than the leaders have recognized the need to do this, it was
his belief that new Satellite leaders would eventually emerge
as a result of popular pressures and the example of Yugo-
slavia.
Tito insisted that Communist China was
not a satellite of the USSR and that the USSR was not pushing
China as its spearhead for penetration of Asia. At this point
Vice President Kardelj pointed out that according to Stalin's
own words, China had been successful in its revolution against
Stalin's wishes.
Tito said, however, that the USSR had
exercised great influence over the Chinese Communists, and
that it still occasionally acted to restrain the youthful and
revolutionary fervor which sometimes caused Peiping to "run
a bit wild." Tito advocated wider political and economic con-
tacts for China, including admission to the UN.
Comment Yugoslav leaders have held such views
on a post-Sta,lin "liberalization" in the
Soviet bloc for at least tlyia past year, and on the independence
of Communist China for an even longer period.
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5. SOVIET BLOC ARMS
AFGHANISTAN
RRIVING IN
One hundred twenty Afghan trucks
left Kabul about 25 October to pick
up arms at Kelif on the Afghan-Soviet
border
in e transport [vision of the Afghan Defense Ministry.
Forty more trucks reportedly left Kabul about 1 November
for the same purpose, and another 40 were to leave a few
days later.
Comment These are probably Czech arms ac-
quired under a $3,000,000 cash deal
negotiated last August. They presumably consist prima-
rily of light weapons and ammunition to remedy shortages
revealed during mobilization of the Afghan army in May of
this year. This would be the first substantial quantity of
arms received by Afghanistan since British shipments early
in World War II.
Prime Minister Daud may attempt to
use the arrival of the arms in Kabul about the time of the
Grand Tribal Assembly on 14 November to demonstrate
the success of his policy of closer relations with the Soviet
bloc.
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6. VIET MINH PROPAGANDA POINTS TO CLOSER TIES
WITH USSR
The American embassy in Saigon
sees in recent Viet Minh propaganda
stressing ties with the USSR a possi-
ble development of a closer relationship between the Viet
Minh and the USSR at the expense of pro-Chinese Commu-
nist elements among the Viet Minh. In this connection,
the embassy also cites the abrupt transfer from Peiping
to Pyongyang of Viet Minh ambassador Hoang Van Hoan.
The embassy believes that the new
propaganda may foreshadow a move by the USSR to press
the Viet Minh cause more actively in the international
arena.
Comment Recent propaganda broadcasts from
Hanoi have omitted Mao Tse-tung's
name from the list of those who provided doctrinal guid-
ance for the Viet Minh, but have included Marx, Engels,
Lenin and Stalin.
Hoang Van Hoan, who was transferred
and apparently demoted on 22 October after nearly five
years in Peiping, was a member of a Vietnamese revolu-
tionary group in China as early as 1930 and may have been
a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Vietnamese are traditionally hostile to
Chinese. On the other hand, available information indi-
cates Peiping's aid program to the Vet Minh is over three
times the size of Moscow's, and there are many Chinese
advisers in North Vietnam.
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IL COMMENT ON PHILIPPINE ELECTION
Manila Incomplete returns from the 8
9 Nov 55 November balloting indicate a
Press general victory for President
Magsaysay, with the Nacional-
ista candidates apparently capturing six of the nine
Senate seats and most of the 52 provincial governor-
ships. The election will probably not result in any
significant change in the Philippine political picture.
Senator Recto, the chief critic of
the president's pro-American policies, will undoubt-
edly cite his re-election in the face of Magsaysay's
opposition as proof of popular support of his policies;
unless the final count shows him at or near the top of
the list of successful senatorial candidates, however,
his influence is unlikely to be a serious threat to the
president's leadership.
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700. 9 November)
Diplomatic activity centering an tile new
efforts of UN truce chief General Burns to achieve a settle-
ment of the dispute over the El Auja demilitarized zone has
taken precedence over military activity along the Arab-
Israeli borders. However, aftereffects of the clash near
Eilat on 8 November are apparent
to the South Sinai command,
that "the enemy is expected to carry out. . . operations as a
result of last night's clash." An Israeli Foreign Ministry
spokesman indicated Tel Aviv intends to renew its diplomatic
campaign against the Egyptian blockade of Eilat and reiterated
the threat that if diplomacy fails Israel may resort to direct
action.
Israeli prime minister Ben-Gurion is also
reported to have talked in bellicose tones to General Burns,
speaking of "saboteurs and murderers" and insisting that
Israel's aim is "peace--not suicide." (Press)
an
Israeli effort to regularize the temporary restrictions that
have been imposed in some areas in the past on the free
movement of UN truce observers. The Israelis claim to
be particularly anxious that their troop movements and posi-
tions near El Auja not be given away by the UN teams.
A French Foreign Ministry official has
informed the American embassy in Paris that France con-
siders urgent the delivery to Israel of Mystere jet fighters.
The planes have not yet left France, however, since they are
not yet in "deliverable" condition. The American air attache
in Paris has learned that the planes are still in French air
force units, and that the total the Israelis have ordered from
the French may be as high as 27 Mysteres and 12 Ouragans.
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Israel meanwhile has outlined its general
conception of the arms it should obtain from the United States.
These arms would include fighters and antiaircraft guns, anti-
tank materiel and some types of weapons for defense against
submarines. Israel has also made known that it would have
no objection if the United States balanced off a security guaran-
tee for it with American adherence to the Baghdad pact. At the
same time the Israelis have reiterated that they will make no
territorial concessions to reach a settlement with the Arabs.
Fthe weapons Egypt has received from the Soviet bloc do
not conform with those requested by the Egyptian army, being
a mixture of old and new. a suspi-
cion of Soviet good faith has been aroused. In the light of the
high hopes the Egyptian army has probably placed in the new
weapons, a certain amount of disillusionment is probably in-
evitable. There is no indication that such feeling, if it exists,
has had any effect on Egypt's negotiations with the Soviet bloc
authorities.
five MIG's have been lost
in flight operations in Egypt.
Plans for the establishment of joint Egyptian-
Syrian planning appear to be moving forward. A meeting of the
"supreme defense council" set up under Syria's new pact with
Egypt met in Cairo on 8 November and gave the command to
Egyptian minister of war Amir. Reports last summer sug-
gested that Syrian chief of staff Shuqayr might be given this
job as the price of his support of the project. Shuqayr's ab-
sence from the scene suggests that his influence may be de-
clining. (Press)
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