Word: vang
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...Hmong rebellion against their French rulers erupted in much of Laos and northern Vietnam, ultimately failing but leaving thousands dead. When the French left Laos in 1953, the Hmong found themselves fighting again?this time against the threat of communism. Among the resisters was a young Hmong general named Vang Pao, who in 1961 was commissioned by the CIA to set up a secret army to fight the advancing communists. Over the next decade nearly half of the 40,000 Hmong fighters in Vang Pao's army are thought to have perished during the fighting. The reward for their sacrifice...
...Even from California, where he leads the United Lao Liberation Front (ULLF), Vang, 74, casts a long shadow over his people. Moua says he reports directly to Vang?a claim the Californian denies, though he does admit to providing occasional help. From his suburban American home, the exiled general demands democracy and a reinstatement of the monarchy in Laos. Moua and his militia are among the remnants of Hmong rebel groups fighting for that disappearing dream...
...Moua joined Vang's secret army at age 15. His left arm ends in a stump?his hand was removed in a 1974 jungle amputation. One of only four people in the village with some writing skills, he is a meticulous keeper of village statistics?there are 56 orphaned children, 40 widows and 11 widowers. By Moua's count, 30% of the villagers have shrapnel wounds. In 1975, when Vang fled Laos, Moua recorded his group at 7,000 people. Today there are only about 800 left...
...That perception was shattered last Wednesday morning at a rest stop five kilometers north of Vang Vieng. Around 8:30 a.m., the gunmen?as many as 30, say witnesses?jumped out from behind bushes along the road. Waving their guns, they stopped a crowded public bus, several cars, a tractor and the two Europeans who were heading north on a bike trip. Survivors claim the gunmen fired M-16s and grenades from rocket launchers, then stepped over fallen bodies and executed the wounded. The two Europeans, who have yet to be identified, tried desperately to flee on their mountain bikes...
...foreign currency. Yet, in the immediate aftermath, authorities acted as if catching the killers was at best a secondary concern. According to Western diplomatic officers, local police were busily cleaning up the ambush site instead of collecting evidence or interviewing witnesses. By midday, phone lines were cut in Vang Vieng, and the road around the town sealed. "They were trying to hush it up," claims a diplomatic official, to "pretend it didn't happen...