When America Quits: The Hmong Story Continued

This article was written by Four Inch Heels.

Community Fundraising

In an earlier post I mentioned some of the reports that Vang Pao had engaged in fund-raising activities from Hmong community members over the years, with promises based on returning to Laos, victorious. The complaint filed June 4 in the case alleging a plot that involved purchasing illegal fire-arms and violating the Neutrality Act to overthrow the government of Laos, includes an allegation, that Thao, on of the defendants, “said that the budget which he described as ‘standing by’ consisted of contributions from the community elders through clan leadership.”

The agent said Harrison Jack told him “that ‘they’ (Neo Hom) lost a shipment a couple of years ago that cost them eight hundred thousand dollars.”

If this is correct, then the plot was going on for a long time before Operation Tarnished Eagle began.

Air America and CIA: Financing? Advice? “Ready to Roll”?

The affadivit filed by the undercover agent on June 3, 2007 included statements that are especially interesting in light of General Vang Pao’s involvement in the so-called secret war in Laos.

“On April 12, 2007, I met with Harrison JACK at Hangar 17, a restaurant, …JACK told me his Hmong contacts had raised a lot of money through “Air America” but had not taken any money from the CIA. JACK said the CIA would only meet with Lo Cha THAO and two others and would not meet with JACK.” [51]

The agent said in the affidavit:

“ THAO said that his group had been consulting with a United States congressman and had received advice concerning “under table strategies” from military personnel like Harrison JACK and an unnamed “CIA guy.”

The agent’s affidavit includes a record of a phone call on May 4, 2007, in which, “Jack also told me [the agent]that, according to LoCha THAO, the Agency (which [he’ understood to be the CIA) was standing by and ready to roll. I understood his statement to mean that the CIA was preparing to assist the Hmong insurgency once the takeover of Laos had begun.”

By the way, the CIA The World Factbook says of the military in Laos: “Laos is one of the world's least developed countries; the Lao People's Armed Forces are small, poorly funded, and ineffectively resourced; there is little political will to allocate sparse funding to the military, and the armed forces' gradual degradation is likely to continue. . ."

Human and Drug Trafficking

The Affidavit of Randall Paranick, filed June 5, in the complaint against Nhia Kao Vang said that

". . .officers located the following documents of evidentiary value at the residence near his home computer in the master bedroom:

Documents that related to purchasing illegal weapons
Documents that related to human and drug trafficking in financial support of their “project”
“Minutes” of the meeting. “$100,000” was written in one of the “minutes”
Documents that stated he was the Administrator of the Lao Family Association” [Emphasis Added]

Cash and [Maybe] Gold Bars

In documents made public on June 14, agents property seized at the home of Chong Vang, son of Vang Pao. Court records include Chong Vang among those attending a Feb.7 meeting with an undercover agent who was showing weapons to a group charged with planning to overthrow the government of Laos.

"A document titled "Seized Property Log" lists 18 items taken, including "4 bars of suspected gold from light brown leather suitcase from master bedroom" and "4 bars of suspected gold from gray locker in master bedroom."

Federal prosecutors said the bars have not been tested to see whether they are gold.

It also lists various amounts of money seized from parts of the house, including $59,050 from a black leather briefcase in the master bedroom and $64,020 found in a brown leather suitcase in the same room.

Bee Yang, a Hmong cultural expert, could not speak to the specifics of this case, but said that in general, it is not an uncommon practice for some Hmong to keep large sums of money and gold at their homes.

"That's the only way some Hmong know how to save money," he said.

"They've never lived in a society that had banks. They are more comfortable knowing that their money is in their hands than at the banks."

Bee Yang also said some Hmong elders give their money to people they trust to hold on to, and in Hmong culture, silver and gold bars are sometimes used to rub and heal people who are sick."

Paula Yang agreed that the large sum of money taken from Chong Vang's home isn't unusual.”

Ms. Yang has an MSW, is at University of California Fresno and has been called as an expert witness in cases regarding Hmong customs, e.g., a case in which a family sued a cemetery for emotional distress.

The charges are only allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.