CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/04/27

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995610
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: April 27, 1956

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
TO-P-SEGRET
27 April 1956
Copy No. 1U1
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLAS
' DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE:
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OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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1.001 440
CONTENTS
1. DANGER OF COUP SEEN IN PANAMA :page 3
2, LAOTIAN PREMIER AGAIN URGED TO VISIT HANOI
(page 4).
3. USSR ASKS TO SEND FISHE:RIES EXPERTS TO TOKYO
(page 5).
4. CAMBODIA NEGOTIATES AID AND TRADE AGREEMENTS
WITH COMMUNIST CHINA (page 6).
5, CZECH DEFENSE MINISTER DISMISSED
(page 7).
27 Apr 56
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
175-77-5-ECRFT
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1. DANGER OF COUP SEEN IN PANAMA
The American embassy in Panama
believes the political situation there
has deteriorated to such an extent
that a coup is possible unless Presi-
dent Arias and the administration's
presidential candidate, De la Guardia, are able to unite
the feuding factions of the government party.
Minister of Government and Justice
Remon, who now wields increasing power but would have
no stake in an administration headed by De la Guardia,
may attempt to oust the government before the 13 May
national elections and form a junta which would include
Lt. Colonel Saturnino Flores, second commandant and re-
portedly the real power of the National Guard, Panama's
only armed force.
Comment Remon and Flores are believed capable
of staging a successful coup. Remon is
probably now Panama's strongest politician. He favors as
president Enrique de Obarrio, a capable and pro-American
economist and politician.
Panamanian politics are in a turmoil
over the approaching elections and over the still-unsolved
assassination of the president in January 1955, in which
influential politicians were probably involved. Public sus-
picions and dissatisfaction over the government's handling
of the case were apparently the cause of the 21 April rioting
in Panama City, and mutual recriminations regarding respon-
sibility for the crime appear to be responsible for the widen-
ing rift within the administration's corrupt political machine.
27 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin - Page 3
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2. LAOTIAN PREMIER AGAIN URGED TO VISIT HANOI
The Indian charg�n Vientiane re-
cently told Ambassador Yost that
the Viet Minh has again indicated a
desire to invite Laotian premier
Souvanna Phouma to Hanoi for a
"courtesy visit." Souvanna Phouma told Yost he pre-
ferred dealing directly with the Pathet Lao, but felt
there might be some advantage in talks in Hanoi aimed
at securing a public Viet Minh commitment to noninter-
ference in Laotian affairs. He also said that if Ho Chi
Minh and Chou En-lai were willing to treat Laos as a
fully independent state, he would be willing to establish
normal relations with both Communist China and North
Vietnam.
Ambassador Yost feels that Souvanna
Phouma would probably accept an invitation to Hanoi.
Comment This is the third time since February
that the Indian charg�as indicated
the Viet Minh is interested in having the Laotian premier
come to Hanoi. On 4 April he indicated that such a trip
might result in the Viet Minh "advising" the Pathets to
accept royal government authority over the two disputed
provinces in northern Laos in return for a pledge of Laotian
neutrality.
Laotian leaders generally are inclined
to believe that a political solution of the Pathet problem lies
only in Peiping and Hanoi.
27 Apr 56
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3. USSR ASKS TO SEND FISHERIES EXPERTS TO TOKYO
Ichiro Kono, chief of the Japanese
fisheries mission now en route to
Moscow, has strongly recommended
that the Japanese government approve
the Soviet request for permission to
replace the head of its unrecognized
mission in Tokyo and to send Soviet
fisheries experts to Japan. Foreign
Minister Shigemitsu told Ambassador Allison the Foreign
Ministry opposes these suggestions and takes the stand
that all fisheries matters should be discussed in Moscow.
Shigemitsu fears, however, he can not
win cabinet support for this position. He stated that in any
event Japanese acceptance of the Soviet proposal would not
mean the granting of diplomatic status to the Soviet mission
in Tokyo.
Tokyo press reports state that the USSR
has requested diplomatic status for the fisheries experts it
wishes to send to Tokyo.
Comment Heretofore, the Japanese have refused to
permit the USSR to replace departing per-
sonnel of the unofficial Soviet mission which remained in
Tokyo after the occupation. While acceptance of the Soviet
request would not necessarily accord diplomatic status to the
present Soviet mission in Tokyo, it would certainly be a step
in that direction. As no compensating concession from the
Soviet side is as yet apparent, granting the demand would
seriously weaken the Japanese at the forthcoming fisheries
negotiations.
27 Apr 56
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4. CAMBODIA NEGOTIATES AID AND TRADE
AGREEMENTS WITH COMMUNIST CHINA
comment
Cambodian foreign minister Nong
Kimny told Ambassador McClintock
in Phnom Penh on 24 April that the
Cambodian economic delegation now
in Peiping had negotiated an economic
aid agreement as well as a trade pact.
No details on these agreements are
available as yet, although Cambodian
prince Sihanouk recently announced that Peiping. was of-
fering the equivalent of over 800,000,000 riels ($20,000,000
at the official rate) in economic aid. Communist China has
not hitherto given financial assistance to any non-Communist
country.
Chou En- Lai is scheduled to visit Cambodia
in June. (Concurred in by ORR)
27 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 6
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" CONFIDE-Nil
5. CZECH DEFENSE MINISTER DISMISSED
The dismissal of Alexej Cepicka
from his posts as defense minister
and deputy premier and from the
politburo of the Czech Communist
arty the severest action taken against a top Satellite
official in the current drive against Stalinist practices.
It is the first change in the Czech hierarchy since the
death of President Gottwald in 1953. Two other politburo
members, Vice Premier Kopecky and Slovak party first
secretary Bacilek, are also reportedly to be demoted.
Cepicka, who is charged with "short-
comings and mistakes he committed in the execution of
state and party functions," is an ideal scapegoat. A ruth-
less Communist hated by the general population, he was
also unpopular with party members who believed he rose
rapidly in the party hierarchy after the war because he was
the son-in-law of former president Gottwald.
Cepicka's successor as minister of
defense, Colonel General Bohumil Lomsky, is the former
first deputy minister. Unlike Cepicka, Lomsky is a pro-
fessional military man. He received his training in Moscow
and served as a staff officer in the Soviet army during World
War II.
27 Apr 56
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'1004'
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 26 April)
UN secretary general Hammarskjold
apparently has not yet obtained final agreement from Jordan
to a cease-fire on the Jordan-Israel border. A Jordanian
communiqu�tated that the results of the Hammarskjold talks
would be submitted to King Hussain and the parliament for a
final decision, which then would be given to Hammarskjold
before he left the Middle East. Hammarskjold has left Amman
for Beirut. (Press)
According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry,
Hammarskjold feels enough encouragement from his Cairo visit
to explore the possibilities of an over-all Arab-Israeli settle-
ment. The Israeli officials said Hammarskjold believed that
territorial questions were relatively unimportant in any settle-
ment, but that solution of the refugee problem was vital. For-
eign Minister Sharett stated that Israel was willing to co-operate
on the refugee problem on three conditions: (1) that the approach
was made within the framework of peace, (2) that refugees re-
patriated would be limited to a "reasonable number," and (3) that
Prime Minister Nasr would abandon any territorial claims. Israel
has called for the solution of specific problems within the frame-
work of general peace negotiations, while the Arabs have consist-
ently maintained that specific problem chnillri h raenhTarl
the context of any peace negotiations.
the recent
attack near the Jordan border in which four Israelis were killed
was not the work of "true fedayeen" terrorists but one of several
bands of local Jordanians known to be copying the real fedayeen
squads. Publicly, Israel has suggested that this attack was un-
der Egyptian direction.
27 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
�10P---SEC�RE-T
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", TOP SECRET #0*
recruiting younmen in border vil1aes. for possible futur
use as fedayeen
The Frenc1 Ministrr of Defense informed
American officials in Paris that France would soon supply another
_1_9�mvsttareAetlifthters_toJsel making the total 24.
27 Apr 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
TOP SECRET
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