CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A013200060001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 4, 1969
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Central Intelligence Bulletin
Secret
5 E?n
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No. 0054/69
4 March 1969
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
Vietnam: Situation report. (Page 1)
Communist China - USSR: Peking has reacted angrily
to Moscow's public protest over the latest border
clash. (Page 3)
Berlin: The Communists are continuing sporadic
harassment as West German delegates arrive in
Berlin. (Page 4)
Central America: Nicaragua's new restrictive trade
measures are a backward step in the process of
regional economic integration. (Page 5)
Chile: President Frei's party lost its majority
in last Sunday's congressional elections. (Page 7)
Costa Rica: A bitter political campaign is taking
shape for the general elections next February.
(Page 8)
Malawi: The influx of whites from southern Africa
has strained race relations. (Page 9)
USSR-Algeria-Morocco: Podgorny visit (Page 10)
Hungary-USSR: Economic consultations (Page 10)
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Vietnam:
South Vietnam: Enemy military activity on 3
March remained down nearly to the pre-offensive
level for the fourth straight day.
No major ground assaults were reported, and
most mortar and rocket attacks occurred in the out--
lying areas, where they were directed against al-
lied forces and installations.
At Ben Het, the allied Special Forces camp lo-
cated in west-central Kontum Province, defending
forces observed at least five enemy tanks and de-
stroyed one. West of Kontum City, a US company took
heavy casualties during an engagement with enemy
forces.
North Vietnam: The most impressive delegation
ever sent by the National Liberation Front is re-
ceiving an effusive reception from Hanoi's top lead-
ership. The first such high-level delegation to
visit North Vietnam in six years, it includes four
members of the Front's central committee as well as
lower ranking officials drawn from many of South
Vietnam's major religious, ethnic, and geographical
groups.
This visit appears to be part of the continu-
ing Communist effort to portray the Front as inde-
pendent from Hanoi and to strengthen its prestige.
The delegation's tour in North Vietnam could fore-
shadow some new political move in connection with
the Paris talks, where the Communists clearly hope
the Front will play a leading role. F7 I
4 Mar. 69 Central Intelligence Bulletin
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ocation of Sino-Soviet
i'-
Chia MU Szu Border Clash on 2 March
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Communist China - USSR: Peking has reacted an-
grily to the public Soviet protest over a border
clash on 2 March.
In a sharply worded note delivered to the Rus-
sians on 2 March the Chinese rejected the Soviet
version of the incident and asserted that Soviet
troops had "openly intruded into Chinese territory
killing and wounding many Chinese." They followed
up this blast with a massive Red Guard demonstra-
tion outside the Soviet Embassy in Peking, the first
such incident in two years.
Available information does not permit a judg-
ment of the validity of conflicting claims regard-
ing responsibility for this incident. The versions
of both sides, however, convey the impression that
this could have been the most serious border clash
in the past two decades.
The Ussuri River frontier, where the clash oc-
curred, has been the scene of continuing friction.
On 3 March the Chinese official news service charged
the Soviets with more than 35 border violations dur-
ing the past two years. Likewise, the Russians have
periodically accused the Chinese of border viola-,
tions in the area.
This latest clash comes at a time when Peking
is increasingly sensitive to Soviet activity along
the frontier. Last September the Chinese charged
the Soviets with numerous violations of Chinese air
space and Premier Chou En-lai asserted publicly
that the Russians were conducting a major military
buildup in the border region. (Map)
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Berlin: There have been sporadic incidents
of Communist harassment of traffic to and from
Berlin during the last 24 hours.
One section of a five-section US convoy en
route from West Berlin to West Germany was delayed
for just under an hour yesterday morning when the
Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn was closed, ostensibly
because of Soviet - East German maneuvers. The
convoy was otherwise unhampered; French and Brit-
ish military convoys used the autobahn without
incident. Some West German civilian traffic was
subjected to short delays by the East Germans and
there was a second closure of the autobahn for
about an hour in the afternoon.
Air traffic moved normally. Soviet represent-
atives were on duty throughout the day at the Ber-
lin Air Safety Center. A majority of the delegates
to the West German Federal Assembly were expected
to have flown into West Berlin by last night.
Meanwhile, the West Germans have announced
that several Bundestag committees will hold ses-
sions in Berlin prior to and after the Federal As.-
sembly meeting this week. Both Moscow and Pankow
presumably will describe this as another provoca-
tion.
The East Germans have thus far failed to reply
formally to the West Berlin Senat's latest proposal
for further discussions, but Pankow's response was
probably contained in a very negative article in
the authoritative Neues Deutschland on 3 March.
Commenting on alleged provocations by Bonn and West
Berlin, the paper stated that "there is no way out
other than cancelling the provocation ula ned for
5 March." F_ I
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Central America: Nicaragua's unilateral de-
cision to impose restrictive trade measures is a
backward step in the process of Central American
economic integration.
President Somoza announced on 28 February the
immediate imposition of taxes on certain imports
from other Central American Common Market coun-
tries. His decision is primarily a reaction to a
recent study by the International Monetary Fund,
which concluded that the Nicaraguan Government
could not further reduce current expenditures and
could solve its economic problems only by reducing
development outlays or finding new sources of rev-
enue. Unwilling to reduce the level of public
investment, the President has instead taken the
difficult step of raising additional revenue.
Somoza, who believes that his country's cur-
rent economic problems have resulted in large part
from unfair trading practices of the other Common
Market countries, was also motivated by a desire
to put pressure on them to ratify and deposit out-
standing protocols. The Nicaraguan Government has
threatened further unilateral acts if its Common
Market partners do not speed economic integration.
These measures may include taxes on presently ex-
empt industrial products which are only assembled
in Central America and which are not considered by
Somoza to be crucial to Central American economic
development.
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SENATE
ilea n a
press
(PDC) ChristianDemocralic (PS) Socialist
(PCCh) Communist
(PR) Radical
(PN) National
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Chile: Congressional elections last Sunday
cost President Frei's Christian Democratic Party
its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, although
it remains the largest party in Chile.
With 31 percent of the vote--far below the
42 percent it obtained in 1965---it now holds only
56 seats of 150 in the lower house. In the Senate
it gained, but is still three seats short of con-
trolling that body.
The biggest gainer was the conservative Na-
tional Party, which emerged as the second largest
party in Chile. This outcome was due in part to
the party's effectiveness in associating itself
with former president Jorge Alessandri and in part
to a general disenchantment with reform on the
part of Frei's middle class and conservative con-
stituency. This disenchantment may also have been
a major factor in the high level of abstentions--
over 26 percent--despite penalties for not voting.
The Communist and Socialist parties together
polled about 30 percent of the vote--an eight per-
cent increase over the 1965 congressional elections.
Pro-Castro Socialist Salvador Allende got the
highest vote in his district, giving him an impor-
tant push toward nomination by the Communists and
Socialists for president in 1970.
(Chart)
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Costa Rica: A bitter and vindictive politi-
cal campaign is taking shape for the general elec-
tions next February.
The parties of the incumbent coalition Na-
tional Unification (UN) have chosen Mario Echandi
as their standard bearer against his longtime po-
litical enemy, Jose Figueres of the opposition
National Liberation Party (PLN). The personal an-
tagonism between the chief candidates, both of them
ex-presidents, adds to the sharpness between the
political groups. The UN and PLN have engaged in
unrelenting political warfare since the 1966 elec-
tions gave the executive branch to the UN and the
legislature to the PLN.
The tone of the forthcoming campaign was set
by Echandi's immediate reference to the "menace
that Figueres represents" and his promise to save
Costa Rica from "a new and ominous PLN administra-
tion."
Adding to the heat of the political scene is
the increasingly evident gap between political
generations. Both parties have been racked by
abortive youthful revolts against the long-dominant
personalities. F7 I
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Malawi: The influx of whites from southern
Africa has strained race relations, raising the
chances for eventual violence.
President Banda's policy of encouraging invest-
ment from white-ruled southern African countries,
which have responded most positively to his program
for economic development, has led to a disturbing
racial by-product. The initial wave of white pro-
fessionals and businessmen is being followed by
openly prejudiced skilled and semiskilled laborers--
particularly from South Africa and Rhodesia--who
will man a number of new development projects and
commercial schemes. Growing disgruntlement among
Malawi's African elite has resulted.
As long as Banda rules the country, racial ten-
sions are unlikely to produce serious political con-
sequences.
Banda is too well entrenched for
any action to be taken against him. Although the
possibility of his assassination as "a stooge of
white racists" cannot be ruled out, the competence
of the apolitical security forces, led by British
expatriates, and the President's immense popular-
ity among the uneducated masses in the bush have
precluded any anti-Banda movement.
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USSR-Algeria-Morocco: Soviet President Pod-
gorny is scheduled to arrive in Algeria late in
March and to go on to Morocco on 1 April for five
days. This will be the first visit by a Soviet
chief of state to these two countries and drama-
tizes the growing Soviet interest in the Maghreb.
Soviet military and economic aid to North Africa
is concentrated in Algeria, but Moscow is probably
anxious to respond to King Hassan's recent willing-
ness to increase contacts with the Soviet Union
and repay the visit he made to Moscow in 1966. The
Soviets concluded their most recent military and
economic aid agreements with Morocco in October
1966. Soviet naval ships visited there for the
Hungary-USSR: Hungarian economic leaders, in
Moscow from 26 February to 1 March, have returned
to Budapest apparently without having reached full
agreement with their Soviet counterparts. TASS
announced that the talks centered on "the further
development of economic cooperation," but spoke
only of a "friendly exchange of opinions." This
cautious phraseology may reflect either some dis-
agreement over proposed reforms within the Council
for Mutual Economic Assistance or Soviet hesitance
to endorse any proposals before completio of other
bilateral talks.
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