Word: laotians
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...true Laotian style, last week's coup by the Communist Pathet Lao was a well-mannered affair, allowing for some touches of face-saving grace. It began with a series of "popular" demonstrations, some of them so tamely orchestrated that bored crowds began to wander away before the big finale. Then it was announced that a two-day Congress of 265 People's delegates had taken place in Vientiane, although no one in the capital had seen or heard of it. At each event, figurehead King Savang Vatthana, 68, and his 18-month-old coalition were thanked...
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union must content itself with an enlarged navy cruising the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea and with a dramatically enlarged presence in Southeast Asian countries. In the Laotian capital of Vientiane, the tiny office of Aeroflot, the Soviet airline, lists 150 Russians as employees. There are intelligence reports that the Soviets have brought 40 patrol boats to cruise the Mekong River border between Thailand and Laos. China, for its part, maintains close contact with the Communist movements in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and would support any guerrilla insurrections in these nations...
...students, charging that USAID was formerly a cover for CIA activities, and that much aid money tended to end up in the pockets of corrupt officials, seized the compound two weeks ago. They were supported, at least at first, by some Laotian employees of the agency who agreed with the students' charges; more important, they had the backing of the Communist-led Pathet Lao, whose soldiers lounged around the compound throughout the occupation. The Pathet Lao presence, in fact, became significant when, after several days of protest, a group of 200 Laotian USAID employees sent a delegation to neutralist...
Steady Stream. The students' victory was, in a way, Pyrrhic. USAID had been the largest single employer in the entire country after the Vientiane government itself, and it was still handing out $32 million in economic aid this year (the equivalent of $10 per Laotian). Pathet Lao representatives said they wanted U.S. aid to continue without any supervision, but that seems unlikely. As of last week, the steady stream of departing Americans had reduced the U.S. presence in Laos from more than 1,000 a month ago to about...
Angry protests lodged at the Laotian Foreign Ministry by U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Christian A. Chapman did no good. In fact, the Laotian Cabinet-still nominally under the leadership of the neutralist Premier Souvanna Phouma -legitimized the students' demands by insisting that the U.S. end all but formal diplomatic activity in Laos and that it turn over to the government all USAID material in the country. Left with no choice but compliance, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger announced that there will be a "substantial reduction" of U.S. personnel in Laos...