CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/08/10

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03193795
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: August 10, 1956

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Release: MT.J.T3Lc�319,)*97-
10 August 1956
Copy No.
105
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
CI DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS
NEXT REVIEW DAtE:
AUTH: HR 70-2
DAT
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REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
1. USSR ACCEPTS WESTERN INVITATION TO LONDON
CONFERENCE (page 3).
2. SOVIET OFFICIAL PROMISES AID TO EGYPT IN CASE
OF IATAg ) (page 4).
3. PINEAU PROPOSES THAT ATOMIC ARMS BE MADE AVAIL-
ABLE TO NATO (page 5).
4. HONDURAN LIBERALS REPORTEDLY PLAN ANOTHER
REVOLT ) (page 6).
5. RUMORED SHOOTING OF ECUADORAN ARMY CHIEF MAY
PROVOKE CRISIS IN ARMED FORCES 1 (page 7).
6. COALITION GOVERNMENT REPORTEDLY AGREED ON
IN LAOS ) (page 8).
7. COMMUNIST PARTICIPATION IN FINIsnsTunnwiRATMENT
REPORTED UNDER CONSIDERATION (page 9)0
* * *
10 Aug 56
�THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 10)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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1. USSR ACCEPTS WESTERN INVITATION TO
LONDON CONFERENCE
The Soviet note accepting the invitation
to the London conference makes numer-
ous reservations to the conference as
proposed. The USSR urges postponement
of the conference until late August, if only to allow time to
invite the new participants the Soviet Union proposes. The
note strongly supports Egypt's position, terms as "inadmissi-
ble" threats by Britain and France, and is in harmony with
Prime Minister Nehru's statement on 8 August. It invites
� Asian and neutral powers to oppose the British proposal and
support Nasr.
� Moscow probably will attempt to hamstring
the conference at the outset by challenging its competence to
deal with the problem. The note states that the conference as
presently constituted "cannot in any way" be regarded as au-
thorized to take "any decisions whatever" affecting the Suez
Canal. It suggests instead that the USSR considers it "most
expedient" to discuss such problems within the framework of
the United Nations.
In its proposal, Moscow names 22 addi-
tional states to be invited to the conference, including the
seven Satellites, Communist China and ten Moslem countries.
Moscow may introduce the question of the
status of other waterways at the conference. The note asks
why the Western declaration at London singled out the Suez
Canal from the "sea straits and canals of no smaller imno -
tance."
10 Aug 56
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2. SOVIET OFFICIAL PROMISES AID TO EGYPT IN
CASE OF WAR
comment In the event of Western military action
against Egypt, the USSR probably intends
to give Egypt political and economic support, including arms;
and it is possible that Communist pilots already in Egypt on a
training mission might be used to man some of the aircraft
Egypt has received from the bloc. It appears less likely, how-
ever, that Moscow would dispatch "volunteers" to Egypt except
in an advisory, noncombatant capacity.
10 Aug 56
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3. PINEAU PROPOSES THAT ATOMIC ARMS BE
MADE AVAILABLE TO NATO
French foreign minister Pineau feels
that the best way to meet both German
and French worries over possible
British and US troop reductions in
urope wou e o make quantities of tactical atomic weap-
ons available to NATO. Pineau reportedly feels that this
action would confirm that NATO is still the bulwark of
Western defense and that there is no intention of letting its
armament become obsolete. A ranking Foreign Ministry
spokesman on 6 August quoted Pineau as having made these
statements in his conference last week with British foreign
secretary Lloyd.
Comment Pineau's suggestion may indicate a ma-
jor evolution in the official French po-
sition on the desirability of permitting West German armed
forces to have access to atomic weapons. Such a change is
possible in the light of French concern for the maintenance
of the NATO shield in Western Europe. Most of France's
NATO divisions have been diverted to North Africa, and there
is a possibility of British withdrawals in connection with the
Suez crisis.
Paris, however, can be expected to op-
pose the release of West Germany from restrictions on its
right to manufacture atomic, biological, and chemical weap-
ons.
10 Aug 56
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4. HONDURAN LIBERALS REPORTEDLY PLAN
ANOTHER REVOLT
Comment
Honduran chief of state Lozano assured
the American embassy on 6 August that
"everything is under control," but admitted that up to 300
rifles and a few machine guns were missing from the barracks
after the attack. A state of emergency is still in force in the
capital area and the army continues on alert. Lozano, appar-
ently confident that order has been restored, on 9 August de-
creed the long-planned election of a constituent assembly for
7 October.
The north coast was quiet during and after
the 1 August fighting in Tegucigalpa. The Liberals are strong-
est in this area, however, where resentment over the regime's
probable efforts to dictate the results of the coming election
may prove explosive. Lozano, who is not popular, wants to form
an assembly which will elect him constitutional president of
Honduras for a seven-year term.
10 Aug 56
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5. RUMORED SHOOTING OF ECUADORAN ARMY CHIEF MAY
PROVOKE CRISIS IN ARMED FORCES
Rumors that a popular Ecuadoran army
commander, Colonel Humberto Garces--
reportedly arrested for implication in the
Portoviejo uprising of 6-8 August--has
ead to unrest in the armed forces and possi-
bly an attempt to thwart the official declaration of president-
elect Ponce's victory on 10 August or prevent his inauguration.
President Velasco appears determined to
supervise Ponce's peaceful accession to power. Prompt govern-
ment action in suppressing the Portoviejo revolt has 'tended to
augment Velasco's prestige. Serious armed forces defection,
or congressional rejection of the election results on 10 August,
might lead Velasco to try to perpetuate himself in office.
10 Aug 56
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6. COALITION GOVERNMENT REPORTEDLY AGREED
ON IN LAOS
Comment on:
Chinese Communist and Viet Minh
radio reports claim that the Laotian
government and the Pathet Lao reached
agreement on 8 August to form a coali-
tion government and to hold supplemen-
tary general elections for the purpose of
filling additional seats in an expanded na-
tional assembly.
Although this report is as yet uncon-
firmed by the Laotian government,
prior to the commencemen oriiegon
tions, Premier Souvanna Phouma was thinking of increasing
the number of Laotian provinces from 12 to 16 in order to
admit more deputies into the assembly as a means of facili-
tating the establishment of a government which would include
"two or three Pathets:' It is possible that a cabinet position
will be offered to a high-ranking Pathet, possibly Prince
Soupharmouvong.
Meanwhile, a senior French official in
Indochina anticipates that a "distinctly neutralist" Laos will
result from the present negotiations and that all foreign ad-
visers will be asked to leave. He believes this will mean the
closing down of the French military base at Seno.
10 Aug 56
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7. COMMUNIST PARTICIPATION IN FINNISH GOVERNMENT
UNDER CONSIDERATION
Communist participation in a new all-
party coalition government is being
urged by the Agrarian Party in the event
the current deadlock in the Finnish cabi-
net causes the government to fall,
Cleavage be-
tween the Agrarians and the Social Democrats, who constitute
the coalition government, has prevented the cabinet from cop-
i with the serious problem of inflation and may,
lead one party or the other to resign from the govern-
men
The Social Democrats adamantly oppose any national
coalition that would include the Communists, but the Agrarians
argue that the presence of Communists would "do no harm" and
might be advantageous in the event of talks with the USSR on the
return of part of Karelia to Finland.
Comment The Agrarians and the Social Democrats,
with 53 and 54 seats respectively, have a
slim majority in the 200-seat Finnish parliament; the Finnish
People's Democratic League (Communist) has 43 seats. Be-
cause of the impasse in the government over the economic situ-
ation, the cabinet may fall, but the Agrarians may find it diffi-
cult to include the Communists in any new government because
they are distrusted by a large segment of the people and because
most parliamentary representatives of the smaller bourgeois
parties, which have 50 seats, oppose such a move.
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 9 August)
The American embassy in Lebanon re-
ports that the wave of popular support for Nasr now sweeping
the Arab states indicates a far more belligerent and uncompro-
mising attitude than previously. Even Christian elements in
Lebanon, who may privately have reservations about Nasr, have
joined the chorus for Egypt. The embassy warns against under-
estimating the popular acclaim and support for Egypt in the area
and the resulting emotional reaction which increases Arab in-
transigence on the problem of accommodation with Israel.
10 Aug 56
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