CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A003300010001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 17, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 2, 1957
• Content Type: REPORT

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DATE, REVIEWER
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
State Dept. review completed
TOP SECRET
e 2003/03/10: CIA-RDP7
CURRENT
'S CLASS. CHANG II: T
-
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CONTENTS
LAOS PRESSED FOR DIPLOMATIC EXCHANGES WI
USSR AND POLAND
2bAlA
TO INDONESIA
k- 2. HATTA'S VIEWS ON COMMUNIST THREAT
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REPORTEDLY, PLANNED IN ECUADOR
(page 5).
C iZ_ 3. COMMUNIST-INSPIRED GENERAL STRIKE
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4. AUSTRIAN CHANCELLOR CAUTIOUS ON PROP Wr%
TRIP TO MOSCOW
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2 Sept 57 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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1. LAOS PRESSED FOR DIPLOMATIC EXCHANGES WITH
USSR AND POLAND
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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 com-
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.
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2 Sept 57 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
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2. HATTA'S VIEWS ON COMMUNIST THREAT
TO INDONESIA
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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 a11ny, 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 continuing between, the older, leaders,
who developed the Communist association, and younger lead-
eSrs,-The economic situation in Java is rapidly deteriorat-
ing without much hope that this trend will be reversed.
2 Sept 57 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
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3. COMMUNIST-INSPIRED GENERAL STRIKE
REPORTEDLY PLANNED IN ECUADOR
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 regimen F_
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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-%000
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 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
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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
J 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.
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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 Pitte.rmann 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.
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