IMPASSE REACHED IN DOMINICAN TALKS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 17

IMPASSE REACHED IN DOMINICAN TALKS

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter —Copyright)

SANTO DOMINGO, May 25.

Negotiations aimed at a political settlement in the Dominican Republic have reached an impasse and the possibility of renewed fighting hangs in the balance, informed sources said today.

Experienced observers described the present stage of negotiations as extremely

delicate. They warned of the possibility of renewed fighting.

The difficulty was believed centred on conditions being requested by various parties. These conditions were described as unacceptable to at least one of the Dominican factions.

It was understood that Brigadier-General Antonio Imbert Barreras was asking the withdrawal of all troops before the installation of any provisional government to which he might accede. It was also learned that an international diplomatic move was being worked on to neutralise the National Palace now occupied by troops loyal to General Elias Wessin y Wessin, director of the armed forces training school of Brigadier Imbert’s regime. “U.S. Balking” The United States was understood to be balking at this suggestion. The United States ,in turn, was said to be seeking some assurance from the “constitutionalist” regime of Colonel Francisco Caamano Deno that certain influential Communists be excluded from political life on the island. The exclusion might take as precise a form as the deportation of Communists objectionable to Washington from the country. In Washington yesterday. President Johnson was reported to have ordered a team of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents into the Dominican Republic to investigate Communist influence in the civil war. United Press International said. The White House and the FBI declined comment on a story in the “Washington Post” which said the President had asked the F. 8.1. director, Mr J. Edgar Hoover, last week to undertake the inquiry. Not Clear The “Washington Post” said it was not clear why the President ordered the F. 8.1. to assume an intelligence-

gathering task already performed by the Central Intelligence Agency in the Dominican Republic. It said evidence gathered by the C.I.A. was the basis

for President Johnson’s decision to send additional U.S. marines and paratroopers to Santo Domingo to try to prevent a Communist takeover.