CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1957/09/02

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03153709
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 20, 2019
• Publication Date: September 2, 1957

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
2 September 1957
Copy No. 136
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. X
! ,
CI.ASS. CHANGED TO: IS S
1 REVIEW DATE.
../fif.-11,
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE, REVIEWER: _
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
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CONTENTS
614e_. 1. LAOS PRESSED FOR DIPLOMATIC EXCHANGES WITH
USSR AND POLAND (page 3).
e:94L, 2. HATTA'S VIEWS ON COMMUNIST THREAT
TO INDONESIA (page 4).
3. COMMUNIST-INSPIRED GENERAL STRIKE
REPORTEDLY PLANNED IN ECUADOR
(page 5).
4. AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR CAUTIOUS ON PROPOSED
TRIP TO MOSCOVt/ (page 6).
2 Sept 57
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1. LAOS PRESSED FOR DIPLOMATIC EXCHANGES WITH
USSR AND POLAND
The USSR and Poland are now pressing
the Laotian government to exchange dip-
lomatic representatives on the basis of
negotiations undertaken by Premier
Souvanna Phouma during his earlier tenure, according to
Foreign Minister Phoui Sananikone.
Souvanna has been negotiating with both
countries for "some months," according to Phoui, and the
Laotian government has recently received Soviet agrement
for the appointment of its ambassador in France to be con-
currently ambassador to the Soviet Union, as requested by
Souvanna over a year ago. In addition,. the Polish truce corn-
missionpr has presented a letter from his government, os-
tensibly in line with an earlier request by Souvanna, granting
de facto recognition to Laos and has suggested the way is now
clear for an exchange of envoys.
Phoui states he had been completely unin-
formed on both these moves of Souvanna, and now is in a
quandary over the situation.
Comment Last November, as a result of Soviet ac-
tion in Hungary, the Laotian cabinet re-
versed a decision to exchange representatives with the USSR.
� Souvanna may have sought an exchange of
representatives with bloc countries in the hope of improving
the climate of negotiations with the Pathet Lao, who have in-
sisted on a neutral foreign policy. In his earlier tenure, how-
ever, Souvanna had a freer hand in determining Laotian policy;
Phoui and Interior Minister Katay, leading anti-Communists
of the two-party alliance which formed the present government,
are now consolidating their power in the national assembly.
2 Sept 57
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2. HATTA'S VIEWS ON COMMUNIST THREAT
TO INDONESIA
Former vice president Hatta told Am-
bassador Allison on 31 August that he
saw no danger of a Communist take-
over in Indonesia in the immediate fu-
ture. In support of this view, he pointed to the Communists'
present minority in parliament, the generally anti-Commu-
nist attitude of the arrny, and the lack of vigorous Communist
leaders.
Hatta felt, however, that in the long run
the Communist threat could become critical unless there
was improvement in the economic situation in central and
east Java, and unless leaders of the National party became
convinced of the danger of cooperation with the Communists.
Hatta apparently believes that the best
that can be expected of the national round-table conference
starting on 10 September in Djakarta is an improvement in
relations between dissident leaders and the government to
the point that additional time will be permitted to work out
their disagreements.
Comment Recent Communist party gains in local
Java elections indicate that it enjoys
effective direction even though none of its leaders is a dy-
namic public figure.
Some National party leaders reportedly
favor ending the party's cooperation with the Communists,
but a split apparently is cotitinting betweeri, the older leader,
who developed the Communist association, and younger lead-
ers, The economic situation in Java is rapidly deteriorat-
ing without much hope that this trend will be reversed.
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3. COMMUNIST-INSPIRED GENERAL STRIKE
REPORTEDLY PLANNED IN ECUADOR
Comment on:
A Communist-inspired general strike
in Ecuador, reportedly planned for
early September, could paralyze the
Ecuadoran economy and challenge the
stability of President Ponce's Conservative regime.
American-owned Manabi 'Ex-
ploration Company�Ecuador's second largest oil producer--
has advised the American embassy in Quito that Communists
are behind "impossible" demands for a new union contract
and will strike his company as a means of launching a gen-
eral strike to embarrass Ponce. The company's planned
dismissal of 100 workers about 4 September is likely to
precipitate the movement.
The Communist-oriented oil workers'
federation is affiliated with the Communist-oriented Con-
federation of Ecuadoran Workers (CTE), Ecuador's leading
labor federation, which in turn is an affiliate of the Commu-
nist Confederation of Latin American Workers and World
Federation of Trade Unions. Staunchly anti-Ponce, the
CTE might endorse a general strike and its Communist-
penetrated railway union affiliate would probably support
it, because the government has recently discharged -2v000
railway workers.
The government, however, has been
alerted to the potential danger of the strike and has prom-
ised to apply force if necessary to back the American com-
pany's dismissals.
2 Sept 57
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4. AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR CAUTIOUS ON PROPOSED
TRIP TO MOSCOW
Austrian Chancellor Julius Raab told
the American embassy in Vienna on
29 August that for a variety of reasons
he now thinks he will postpone until
early next year his prospective visit to Moscow to discuss
a scaling down of Austrian reparations deliveries. He
implied that Moscow's informal offer to engage in confiden-
tial personal negotiations would not justify an official visit
in Austrian eyes, and added that, in any case, internal po-
litical problems would preclude his making the trip this
fall. He expressed a belief that the present governmental
situation in Moscow is not sufficiently stable.
The chancellor remarked as an after-
thought and with evident dissatisfaction that Soviet Ambas-
sador Lapin had recently had his first visit with Socialist
Vice Chancellor Pittermann.
Comment Raab was reported .on 31 August to have
suffered a mild stroke or heart attack
which may restrict his traveling.
In any case, he is apparently worried
that acceptance of Moscow's offer to negotiate with him per-
sonally on a 50-percent reduction in reparations might re-
vive suspicions that he is incautious in dealing with the So-
viet Union. His distress over the Soviet ambassador's ap-
proach to Pittermann again suggests that Raab's interest in
the negotiations is motivated in part by a desire to claim par-
tisan credit for any concessions gained.
2 Sept 57
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