Did Hmong crisis spur Vang Pao plot?
News that General Vang Pao may have been plotting to overthrow the Lao government will come as little surprise to people in Laos, or groups and individuals within the region who have been following the plight of the “jungle Hmong”, which is particularly bad at present. Remnants of Hmong groups that have survived since the war in remote areas of mainly northern Laos are in their death throes, given several years of a reportedly brutal crackdown by Lao and Vietnamese troops in the Saysomboom restricted zone, a series of large surrenders by the main jungle groups and a mass exodus across the Mekong to Phetchabun province. The recent bilateral agreement by a Thai-Lao border committee last month – to forcibly return any new arrivals to Laos “no matter how many bullet wounds they have”, as one sarcastic observer noted – was probably the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Vang Pao would have been acutely aware of how dire the situation has become in recent weeks, which have seen a
