CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/06/08

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03015157
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: June 8, 1956

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
///
8 June 1956
Copy No. 0 3
414
DOCUMrT '-'" NO
NO CHAN07:. IN CLASS. 11;it
i i DECLASSIFiED
CLASS. C-IANGED TO: TS S 9001
NEXT REVIEW DATE.
AUTH: Iiii 70-2
DATE.
fiEVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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No.
CONTENTS
1. WIDESPREAD ANTI-REGIME STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS
IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA (page 3).
2. ALGERIAN NATIONALISTS REPORTED SEEKING ARMS
FROM CZECHS (page 4).
3, POLISH WRITERS SAY CRITICISM IN POLAND TOOK ANTI-
RUSSIAN TURN (page 5).
4. YUGOSLAV-SOVIET AGREEMENT TO INCREASE TRADE
(page 6).
5. REVOLT AGAINST ECUADORAN GOVERNMENT REPORTED
PLANNED (page 7).
8 June 56
*
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
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I. WIDESPREAD ANTI-REGIME STUDENT DEMONSTRATIONS
IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Protest meetings and parades held last
month by university students in several
Czechoslovak cities seem to have con-
fronted the regime with its boldest and
most extensive open opposition since the
Pilsen currency riots of 1953. The tim-
ing of demonstrations and demands for
greater political and cultural freedom by
students in Prague, Bratislava, Pilsen,
Banska Bystrica and other centers indicates that the protest
movement was well organized and co-ordinated. Prague
students, for example, apparently distributed leaflets among
factory workers in order to publicize their demands, and
employed both aircraft and motorcycle couriers in order to
maintain contact with colleagues in other areas of the coun-
try.
The regime was caught off guard by the
extent of the student activities and its lack of control over the
country's youth; the police did not act until the end of May,
when about 30 of the student leaders reportedly were arrested--
although this action has since been denied by Premier Siroky.
The crisis has apparently been brought under control, but of-
ficial statements remain equivocal, carefully attempting to
distinguish between "honest" student complaints and discon-
tent inspired by "bourgeois provocateurs."
Siroky's statements concerning the "enor-
mous activity of imperialist agents" in Czechoslovakia may
foreshadow an attempt to exonerate the students and blame the
incidents on foreign agents.
8 June 56
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2. ALGERIAN NATIONALISTS REPORTED SEEKING ARMS
HS
Comment
The Algerian nationalists are arranging
to get arms from Czechoslovakia,
The
arms would reportedly be channeled through
Syria and be furnished free.
unconfirmed
that
the USSR had agreed to supply free, via Egypt, any arms
needed by the Algerian nationalists. Moscow's overt involve-
ment in any such deal would mark a shift in the careful balance
the USSR has been maintaining between sympathy for French
interests and Arab nationalism on the Algerian question. If
a Czech deal should be made, Moscow probably would insist
that any arms reaching Algeria were sent by Arab nations.
at least one 12-ton consignment ot arms aria curium�
nition intended for Algeria is being readied in Damascus for
shipment by air to an unspecified destination.
Algerian nationalist leader Ben Bella pub-
licly stated in Cairo in late February that the rebels would ac-
cept arms from the Soviet bloc. Thus far, however, no arms
identifiable as of Communist manufacture have been found in
rebel hands, (Concurred in by ORR)
8 June 56
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3. POLISH WRITERS SAY CRITICISM IN POLAND TOOK
ANTI-RUSSIAN TURN
the criticism
of the party leadership in Poland had
become so anti-Russian that one
'Two= nave thought the critics were Americans,"
many of the critics themselves
were alarmed by the pace of developments and feared that
if it continued a riot like that of 17 June 1953 in Berlin
would occur. it was felt that, with the USSR on
Poland's doorstep, action must be taken gradually.
Comment Several Poles in official positions have
recently stressed to Western observers
their determination to achieve increased internal freedom
and a measure of independence within the framework of their
alliance with the USSR.
Differences among Polish leaders about
the extent to which criticism should be permitted have undoubt-
edly made it more difficult for the regime to control the criti-
cism.
8 June 56
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4. YUGOSLAV-SOVIET AGREEMENT TO INCREASE TRADE
The protocol signed in Belgrade on
6 June calls for an expansion of
$20,000,000 each way in this year's
Yugoslav-Soviet trade. A Yugoslav
request for 100,000 tons of wheat
from the USSR presumably accounts
for slightly less than half of the in-
crease. According to the announce-
ment, other Soviet exports will be oil, aluminum and
machinery, in exchange for Yugoslav steel, agricultural
products, textiles and footwear.
With this agreement, Yugoslav-Soviet
trade is scheduled to amount to $55,000,000 each way, which
is slightly more than Yugoslavia's trade with China and all
the Satellites. About one third of Yugoslavia's total scheduled
trade will be with the Sino-Soviet bloc. (Concurred in by ORR)
8 June 56
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5. REVOLT AGAINST ECUADORAN GOVERNMENT
REPORTED PLANNED
The Concentration of Popular Forces
(CFP), the party of defeated presiden-
tial candidate Carlos Guevara Moreno,
will initiate a revolt in Guayaquil
with strong army support,
Comment Guevara, a demagogue whose main
strength is in Guayaquil, is reported
to have said he would attempt a coup if he lost the election.
To stage a successful coup, Guevara would need the sup-
port of the Ecuadoran armed forces, which at present
seem inclined to support constitutional procedures and in
any case are reported opposed to Guevara.
The government has reinforced police
patrols in the face of rumors of possible demonstrations by
followers of the three defeated presidential candidates,
and some arrests have been reported.
8 June 56
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r,
N."
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 7 June)
Jordan Arab Legion sources charged that
Israeli soldiers crossed into Jordanian territory on 6 June at
Habla in the Qalqiliya area. Two Israelis were seriously wounded
in the clash. An Egyptian military spokesman said that Israeli
armored cars opened fire on Egyptian territory at the Gaza strip.
(Press)
The Jordanian army is recruiting and train-
ing fedayeen at five schools,
the graduates will
be sent gradually into Israel, adding that these fedayeen have no
connection with Egypt's fedayeen activities, which are under the
control of the Egyptian military attache.
8 June 56
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