CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/11/26

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03019094
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: November 26, 1955

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SECRET
26 November 1955
Copy No. 1011
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. _IL
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
Li DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2010
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:
A t)
VIEWER;
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
//
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
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CONTENTS
1. FAURE THINKS HIS OVERTHROW IS LIKELY (page 3
2. VENEZUELA REPORTED TRAINING COSTA RICANS
PLANNING REVOLUTION (page 4).
3. PEIPING SHOWS IMPATIENCE WITH JOHNSON-WANG
TALKS IN GENEVA (page 5).
4. TURKEY AND IRAQ TO PRESS FOR JORDAN'S ADHERENCE
TO BAGHDAD PACT (page 6).
5. GREEK PRIME MINISTER PESSIMISTIC ON RELATIONS
WITH TURKEY (page 7).
6. BURMESE COMMUNIST LEADER MAY BE NEGOTIATING
FOR AMNESTY (page 8).
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 9)
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1. FAURE THINKS HIS OVERTHROW IS LIKELY
French premier Faure told Ambassador
Dillon on 24 November that he would
probably be overthrown before he could
get the National Assembly to set a defi-
nate date for elections.
The embassy points out that the govern-
ment's position has weakened seriously
since the failure of the premier's effort to have elections
held in December., Faure's call for a vote of confidence
on dissolution of the assembly in February is an effort to
counter attempts by his opponents to avoid the election
issue by overthrowing him on general policy.
Comment Heretofore, one of Faure's strongest
crutches was the deputies' conviction
that it would be difficult to reach agreement on a successor.
His opponents have been encouraged to seek his downfall
now by his acceptance of Communist support on the early
election issue and by the growing support for an electoral
system of single-deputy districts to replace the current de-
partment-wide balloting.
A new premier, possibly Mendes-France,
might be invested on the promise of elections as soon as
electoral reform is accomplished. Since redistricting,
which would be necessary for single-deputy constituencies,
would alter the representation of over 50 percent of the
departments, the Mendes-France forces could expect the
assembly to wrangle long enough over the proposed changes
to give Mendes-France the campaigning time he wants.
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2. VENEZUELA REPORTED TRAINING COSTA RICANS
PLANNING REVOLUTION
Foreign Minister Esquivel told ,
American ambassador Woodward
in San Jose on 23 November that
"about 500" Costa Ricans are beipg
trained in Venezuela by the Caracas
government for an attack on Costa
Rica. Costa Rican defense officials
speculate that plans may call for an
invasion and a simultaneous internal uprising.
Comment
The Venezuelan regime, which as-
sisted Nicaragua in promoting the
invasion of Costa Rica last January by Costa Rican
exiles, hates and distrusts the Figueres administration
for its past aggressive championship of democracy and
its tolerant attitude toward the activities of Venezuelan
exiles. A number of participants in the January in-
vasion went to Venezuela from Nicaragua last March
at Venezuelan expense.
Teodoro Picado,
Jr., military leader of the January attempt and son
of a former Costa Rican president,
Venezuela was supplying the Costa Rican
"revolutionary forces" and that an attack would be
launched in December by "a number of planeloads of
troops" landed on airfields seized by "hired rebels."
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3. PEIPING SHOWS IMPATIENCE WITH JOHNSON-WANG
TALKS IN GENEVA
Peiping's impatience with the lack of
progress in the ambassadorial talks
at Geneva has been evident in several
recent statements accusing the United
States of "stalling" and asserting that the talks cannot be
"prolonged indefinately."
Deputy Premier Chen I, speaking to
a visiting East German group, has made the most belli-
cose of these statements, saying Taiwan will be invaded
if the talks break down.
Chen, the long-time commander of all
military forces in East China, called attention to the
"rapid" construction of Fukien Province's first rail line,
the building of "numerous" ships, and the construction of
"numerous" air bases along the coast.
five
of the nine fields in the coastal area on which work was
started this year are now capable of use. Unusual move-
ments of MIG jet fighters in Manchuria,
and a recent formidable in-
crease in antiaircraft artillery weapons at at least three
of the five serviceable coastal fields may point to their
early occupation by Communist air units.
While apparently not yet capable of a
successful Taiwan invasion, the Communists can at any
time step up their military pressure on the offshore islands.
Such a move would lend substance to Communist threats and
would probably be aimed at strengthening Pei7ing's bargain-
ing position at Geneva.
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4. TURKEY AND IRAQ TO PRESS FOR JORDAN'S
ADHERENCE TO BAGHDAD PACT
Iraqi prime minister Nun i and Turkish
prime minister Menderes are notifying
Jordan they "will extend some arms
and economic aid" if Amman decides
to join the Baghdad pact, according to the American em-
bassy in Baghdad.
British foreign secretary Macmillan
has also said Britain is ready to grant "some arms aid"
and to revise the Anglo-Jordanian treaty if Jordan joins.
Both Nun i and Menderes are confident these assurances,
in addition to the promise of "some arms aid" from the
British, will bring Jordan into the pact.
Comment Iraq, the only Arab state in the Baghdad
pact, is anxious to prevent being iso-
lated from the Arab world and to prevent Egypt from
achieving undisputed leadership of the Arab states.
King Hussain of Jordan is believed
to favor membership in the pact, but Saudi Arabia is
exerting extensive influence on high Jordanian officials,
especially by bribery, and public opinion is strongly op-
posed. It is not likely that Turkey and Iraq can offer
sufficient inducement from their own resources to per-
suade Jordan to join.
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5, GREEK PRIME MINISTER PESSIMISTIC ON RELATIONS
WITH TURKEY
Greek prime minister Karamanlis
is convinced that Ankara's atti-
tude toward Greece has hardened. He
insists Turkish performance on com-
pensation for the damages at Istanbul
and Izmir to date "does not provide
him with a sufficient basis to meet the
pressures of Greek popular feeling."
It therefore appears that Greek par-
tici e tion in NATO and Balkan pact affairs is unlikely un-
til Athens can present the Greek people with some kind
of diplomatic victory over the Turks. Meanwhile, how-
ever, I'urkey has
issued invitations to a meeting of the Balkan Alliance
Permanent Council in Ankara, which must be held before
the end of the year, and has asked for an exchange of views
to fix the date.
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6. BURMESE COMMUNIST LEADER MAY BE NEGOTIATING
FOR AMNESTY
mors persist that Than Tun, leader of
the insurgent Burma Communist Party,
is in Rangoon seeking an amnesty with
a view to open association of his follow-
ers with the Communist-front Burma
Workers and Peasants Party, accord-
ing to 1:he American army attach�The
American embassy also has heard that
the government has been in communi-
cation with the Communist leader. A Burmese cabinet of-
ficer admitted to the embassy that government leaders are
receiving letters from Communists suggesting a deal.
Comment
An effort by Than Tun to negotiate would
be compatible with the current trend
among Asian Communist parties to pursue their objectives
by "peaceful methods," although as late as 26 August
he ordered an intensification of mili-
tary efforts.
Influential members of the Burmese
government, including the defense minister, are reportedly
in favor of offering more lenient amnesty terms than those
presently extended to the Communists.
The cessation of insurgent activity by
the Burma Communist Party would remove the most im-
mediate obstacle to the development of even friendli
relations between Burma and the Sino-Soviet bloc.
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 25 November)
nor incidents continue to be reported
on the Egyptian-Ili border. A small selective call-up
of Israeli forces and lwavy vehicles was reported under way
,on 24 November. It was then suggested that Israel might
be in the initial stages of a large call-up. On 25 November
the American army attach�n Tel Aviv reported that it has
apparently been completed. The attach� believes that the
call-up is for training purposes or in support of a possible
reprisal raid.
King Saud of Saudi Arabia informed Am-
bassador Wadsworth on 22 November that the Saudi ambas-
sador in New Delhi had been approached by the Polish gov-
ernment and offered arms, including aircraft, guns, and
"anything else, all of best quality." Saud informed the
American ambassador that his government would not decide
on this offer, or on a Russian offer which is under con-
sideration, until it learns the results of its discussions
with the United States. The royal counselor who conveyed
the king's message assured Wadsworth that "despite any-
thing you may read or hear�the king will not change what he
had told you before hearing from you again." This assurance
is in line with other recent Saudi statements.
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500,000 tons of Soviet bloc crude oil and 186,000 tons of
Soviet bloc kerosene. These deliveries will be in imple-
mentation of barter arrangements made in April and Au-
gust between Egypt and the bloc. They point up the sharp
expansion under way in Soviet supply of petroleum prod-
ucts to Egypt, but are not directly connected with the
arms deal.
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