Demonstration for Gen. Vang Pao
Driving along Wisconsin Ave. this morning, traffic slowed as the eyes of passerbys were struck by a wall of white shirts and posterboards circling the federal courthouse. As I approached, I made out written slogans like, “Honk if you support Gen. Vang Pao,” and “General Vang Pao is a hero, not a criminal.”
Car horns remained noticeably silent, although I suspect this is because most people outside of the US’s 500,000 Hmong inhabitants simply do not know who General Vang Pao is.
Vang Pao, born 1931, is a former Major General of the Royal Lao Army, and a respected leader in Hmong communities across the US. During the 1960s and 1970s, he led the Secret Army, an American-trained unit, against the North Vietnamese Army and Panther Lao until communists seized control of Laos in 1975. Since coming to the United States, Vang has been an influential force, fighting against human rights violations enacted by the current government of Laos.
As of June 4, 2007, Vang was arressted in California, along with nine others in various locations, on charges of “criminal conspiracy to acquire weapons for hostile activities in Laos.” According to prosecutors, Vang and his associates were attempting to obtain guns, explosives, and other weapons for an operation to send mercenaries to Vientiane, the Laotian capital.
It was only two months ago that controversy erupted in Madison over the naming of the new Vang Pao Elementary School. Although Vang has been awarded much praise for his military and communal leadership, he has frequently faced allegations of participating in the opium trade and other war crimes, including the unlawful execution of enemies and his own troops. Although these allegations have yet to be conclusively proven, they rightfully warranted re-examinations of the school’s name.
Whether you consider General Vang Pao a hero or a criminal, this could prove to be an important trial with regards to United States’ foreign policies, as well as our military’s history of providing training to non-US organizations.
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