Vang Pao

Encyclopedia : V : VA : VAN : Vang Pao

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 opposition to the communist government of Laos. Many Laotians today have been hateful and hostile towards him for his attempt to overthrow the Lao government.

Pao was commander of the Secret Army, a highly-effective, American-trained and supported fighting force made up mostly of Hmong tribesmen. He went into exile in 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. Despite this, there is some controversy surrounding his alleged involvement in heroin and opium trafficking as well as his continued support of the current Hmong-led guerrilla insurgency against the government of Laos.

Although most of the first generation of Hmong immigrants have held Pao as their leader, he is rapidly losing support with the next generations. Many of the young and educated Hmong, of the second and third generation living in the United States, have a growing distaste for Pao. With promises of giving the Hmong people their own country he continually draws money away from the older Hmong generations. As so many families are already in poor economic standing, the children of the parents who give “support” feel like they are being cheated. With such strict cultural discipline to respect the parents, many Hmong children are forced to watch while their families are duped.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.