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Sukarno left yesterday on his rather lengthy visit to various foreign states. He will be accompanied to certain of these capitals by his Foreign Secretary. A main objective of Sukarno will be
to secure support from the governments of the countries he visits
for the Indonesian claim to West Irian. Mr. Allen Dulles speculated
that Sukarno might be making this extensive trip in order to permit
certain changes to be made in the Government of Indonesia without
loss of face for Sukarno himself. There were conflicting reports
on this point.
_
Meanwhile, further measures against the Dutch were being
planned by the Indonesians. It now appears that they are going to
try to repudiate all their financial obligations to the Dutch. Such
a repudiation would have the most serious repercussions. The deteri_orating economic situation in Javea has led to further defections from
the Central Government on the island of Borneo, as had occurred ear_lier in Sumatra and the Celebes.
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Mr. Allen Dulles reported that the revolt in Venezuela had
apparently been put down and the country was quiet. It appeared,
however, that the victorious dictator, Peréz Jimfnez, had not yet
fully secured his control of the press. There were, therefore, incipient possibilities of further uprisings. The revolt had had
fairly deep roots and had centered in the Venezuelan Air Force.
The Army had proved faithful to Perdz Jimfnez and thus assured
his success.
Mr. Dulles pointed out that Venezuela was very important
to the United States because of our extensive trade and because of
the heavy U. &. investment there, an investment second in size among
U. §. foreign investments only to Canada.
.
The Vice President inquired about the character and pros-
pects of Perez Jiménez.
Mr. Dulles replied that this gentleman was
@ dictator who was "running out of steam".
long time for a:Latin American dictator.
He had been in power a
Secretary McElroy inquired about the character of the op-
position to Peréz Jimfmez.
Mr. Dulles replied that the opposition
was varied in character, although the role of the Communists in
this opposition and in the revolt had been minimal. The Roman
Catholic Church had also kept quiet throughout the revolt, though
it was possible that the Church would eventually come out against
the dictator. Secretary Dulles commented that the revolt seemed
to him primarily a personal struggle for power.
Speaking of the Afro-Asian conference in Cairo, Mr. Allen
Dulles pointed out that the assemblage had largely followed Soviet
bloc leadership. There was, however, a certain amount of opposition
to this leadership and to some of the pro-Soviet resolutions. Even
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