Three Hmong-Americans Missing In Laos

40 years ago, the Hmong people of Laos worked alongside the CIA by fighting a guerrilla war against the communists, and helping American POWs and downed pilots in Northern Viet Nam and Laos. Unfortunately, in Laos, the communists eventually won, and a Hmong fellow named General Vang Pao led thousands of refugees to the United States, most of them eventually settling in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Other Hmong remained in Laos, but took to the hills, and kept up their struggle against the communist Lao government. While there is very little of "the struggle" going on in Laos anymore, it is rumored that these Hmong once received financial support from their friends in America... and probably still do receive it, based on General Vang Pao's recent arrest in America for plotting attacks in Laos.

Anyway, ever since the Viet Nam war ended, the Hmong people who remained in Laos have had a pretty rough time of things: Whether an individual Hmong person was actually fighting against the communist government or not, all Hmong were viewed as armed insurgents by the government. Massacres of entire villages and "disappearances" were all too common 20 years ago, and still happen occasionally.

Into this situation last week walked 3 Hmong men from St. Paul... American citizens. What was known is that they were going to go visit family. (Visiting Hmong family in Laos invariably means going out to the mountains.) The next thing that was known was that they were arrested, and then they disappeared. Definitely a bad sign. It would seem that Lao authorities aren't too impressed by Hmong men with American passports. This could really mean bad news for Lao-U.S. diplomatic ties.