Vang Pao
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General Vang Pao was an American-allied Hmong military leader in the Second Indochina War. To this day, he remains an important figure in the Hmong community, and is considered to be the key leader of the traditional Hmong living in exile, or in Laos. In the past, he was known for his opposition to the human rights violations conducted by communist government of Laos, but since 2001 he changed his approach and released his Peace Doctrine. Pao was commander of the Secret Army, a highly-effective, American-trained and supported fighting force made up mostly of Hmong tribesmen. He fled to the United States after the communists seized power in Laos in 1975. Since then, he has been subject to several unsuccessful assassination plots, presumably ordered by the government of Laos or foreign communist forces.
Pao is considered by most Hmong to be the preeminent leader of the Hmong people in the United States and a hero of American-allied forced in the Second Indochina War.
[edit] Allegations of opium trade involvement
There is speculation that Vang Pao was involved in opium trafficking in Southeast Asia. According to witnesses, planes supplied by Air America were used to transport opium on Vang Pao's behalf.[1].
[edit] External links
- "Against All Odds: The Laotian Freedom Fighters", by General Vang Pao, Heritage Foundation Lecture #96, March 19, 1987.
- "Acts of Betrayal", by Michael Johns, National Review, October 23, 1995.
- "Welcome to the Jungle: Recruited by the CIA to be a secret army during the Vietnam War, the Hmong rebels of Laos fought communism. Now they desperately battle for their own survival", Time magazine, May 5, 2003.
- "Vang Pao Met with Senior State Department Official", by Sing Bourommavong, Voice of America news, January 28, 2004.
- "Hmong General Still Revered, but Influence Waning", The Associated Press, June 4, 2004.
- "The Covert Wars of Vang Pao", by Tony Kennedy and Paul McEnroe, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 2, 2005.
