HMONG-AMERICAN LEADER PROVIDES INSIGHTS INTO COUP PLOT, ASKS FOR PROTECTION Date: 2007 June 11, 10:55 (Monday) Canonical ID:
07VIENTIANE487_a
Original Classification:SECRET,NOFORN Current Classification:
SECRET,NOFORN
Handling Restrictions
-- Not Assigned --
Character Count:
10860
Executive Order:
-- Not Assigned -- Locator:
TEXT ONLINE
TAGS:
ASEC - Administration--Security | LA - Laos | PGOV - Political Affairs--Government; Internal Governmental Affairs | PREL - Political Affairs--External Political Relations | PTER - Political Affairs--Terrorists and Terrorism
Concepts:
-- Not Assigned --

Enclosure:
-- Not Assigned -- Type:
TE - Telegram (cable)
Office Origin:
-- N/A OR BLANK --


Office Action:
-- N/A OR BLANK -- Archive Status:
-- Not Assigned --
From:
LAOS VIENTIANE
Markings:
-- Not Assigned --
To:
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY | FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION | SECRETARY OF STATE | THAILAND BANGKOK


1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (S) Summary: The politics of the Hmong communtiies in both Laos and the United States are extremely complex. As a result, a conversation with even a well educated Hmong (or Hmong-American) leader involves exaggeration and guess work and often raises
more questions than it provides answers. Nevertheless, a recent conversation with Hmong-American leader Dr. Yang Dao raises several issues that may be worth pursuing. Dr. Yang Dao also asks for police/FBI protection before agreeing to address a Hmong-
American gathering in Fresno, California. Since he may be in possesison of important, time-sensitive information and seems to be willing to pass a positive message -- that Hmong-American support for attempts to destabilize the Lao Government violates U.S.
laws -- the FBI may have interest in contacting him, and the Department may have an interest in supporting the dissemination of this message. Dr. Yang Dao asks the Department to write letters directly to Hmong groups in the United States to repeat this
message. Please see our action requests in paragraph 13. End summary.
The Chao Fa
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2. (S) A/DCM met with noted Hmong-American leader Dr. Yang Dao (strictly protect) three times during the week of the arrest of Hmong-American conspirators by the U.S. DOJ. Dr. Yang Dao, well known within the Hmong-American community for being the first
Lao in the United States to earn a PhD degree, asked that Embassy Bangkok pursue an investigation into an investment in a company in Thailand that the Chao Fa group may be using to set up a base of operations to help support its activities in Laos.
3. (S) We understand the Chao Fa to be a group, originally set up in 1917 or so, espousing a more "pure" Hmong tradition, and a tradition more based on magic and spirits than that of the Neo Hom group led by General Vang Pao. The Chao Fa and Neo Hom have
led very separate movements in opposition to the Government of Laos (GOL) over the years. Thus we view with concern reports from Dr. Yang Dao and elsewhere that the Chao Fa and Neo Hom may have started cooperating since the beginning of this year.
4. (S) Dr. Yang Dao reported a new sense of confidence on the part of the Chao Fa since the Presidency of the "Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization" (UNPO) accepted the Hmong Chao Fa Federated State as a member during a UNPO meeting held at the
European Parliament in Brussels February 1-3. The "state" envisioned for the Chao Fa appears to include 320,00 Hmong people living on approximately 50,000 square kilometers north of Vientiane -- all or parts of Houaphan, Xieng Khouang, and Sayaboury
Provinces and the city of Luang Prabang. (Note: The political front of the Chao Fa is apparently the World Hmong People's Congress (WHPC) headquartered in New York City.)
5. (S) According to Dr. Yang Dao, Chao Fa recruiters visited California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan at the end of March and in early April looking for volunteers and promising that, now that the Hmong are recognized by UNPO, the USG will help
them build a Hmong Nation in Laos. Apparently as part of this new level of confidence, earlier this year the Chao Fa invested in a Chinese company named "Borisat Wang Jing" ("Wang Jing Company") located in Chiang Saen in Chiang Rai Province in Thailand.
The Chao Fa plan to use this company as a base from which they can enter Laos and undertake activities. Dr. Yang Dao noted that the current Chao Fa leader is Pa Kao Moun, who fled from Laos to Thailand after the change of government in Laos in 1975. Pa
Kao Moun has remained in Thailand since 1975 and is now roughly 60 years old. (Note: his name would indicate he is a close relative of former Chao Fa leader Pa Kao Her who was assassinated in late 2002.) Dr. Yang Dao has heard that the Chao Fa leaders do
not see the recent arrests of General Vang Pao and his group to have any implications for them or their future activities.
Neo Hom (United Front)
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6. (S) Dr. Yang Dao indicated that two leaders of General Vang Pao's Neo Hom organization in Thailand are Neng Vang and Va Leng Vang, both of whom have homes (apparently in northern Thailand) that can be used as bases of operation for the Neo Hom. In
addition, Dr. Yang Dao identified a "Mr. Bird" in Chiangmai, Thailand, as having worked with General Vang Pao for many years. Mr. Bird, whose mother is Thai and father American, is head of a Hmong Chao Khao Foundation (Hmong Mountain People Foundation)
based in Chiangmai.
7. (S) Dr. Yang Dao passed along a rumor he had been told by a Hmong contact from Thailand (who had reportedly been told in turn by a Thai undercover officer) that there are as many as 500 Hmong-Americans currently in Thailand, apparently as part of
planned Neo Hom operations. When pressed, Dr. Yang Dao admitted the number was probably exaggerated but judged that there were probably at least 20 operatives. Dr. Yang Dao expressed particular concern about being told by his own contacts two days
earlier that, of the 8200 Hmong at the Huay Nam Khao holding camp in Thailand's Petchabun Province, as many as 1000 were prepared to cross back into Laos to (re)join the insurgency. Asked how the Neo Hom could be operating with such apparent impunity, Dr.
Yang Dao said his contacts report regular payments to Thai military officers at the level of colonel and general.
A Third Group
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8. (S) Dr. Yang Dao mentioned to A/DCM for the first time that there is a third Hmong insurgent group which had broken off from the Chao Fa movement after the October 2002 assassination of Pa Kao Her. Dr. Yang Dao described this very small Thai-based
group as being led by former Pa Kao Her secretary general Teng Yang.
SIPDIS Playing Rough
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9. (S) Dr. Yang Dao expressed strong concern about methods being used by both Chao Fa and Neo Hom in the last few months. He referred to Neo Hom activists who visited the Huay Nam Khao holding camp in February and recruited ten Chao Fa supporters to
return to Laos on a scouting mission. After spending two weeks in Laos, they reportedly returned to Huay Nam Khao to tell the activists there was no chance the general Hmong population in Laos would support an uprising -- too many had achieved economic
or political success (with more Hmong now in government positions than had been the case in 1975 -- ranging from Politburo Member Madame Pany Yathorthou to cabinet members, governors, deputy governors, mayors etc.). The activists told the ten scouts they
all needed to go to Bangkok to report this -- and the ten have not been seen since.
10. (S) Dr. Yang Dao also mentioned another contact in Laos who called him in the United States in April saying Chao Fa operatives had visited his home to recruit him to help ambush busses. They left him 40 "files" of information to be passed on to other
likely supporters. He called Dr. Yang Dao to ask what to do. Dr. Yang Dao told him to burn the files and avoid further contact with the Chao Fa operatives. When Dr. Yang Dao arrived in Laos last week, he called the contact only to find his number had
been disconnected, and the contact is nowhere to be found.
Direct Mail
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11. (S) Dr. Yang Dao assured A/DCM that, before leaving on this trip to Laos, he had stopped in Fresno and appeared on a local Hmong radio program (hosted by Embassy contact George Vue -- also protect) to tell the audience (before the arrests of the
General Vang Pao group) that actions against the GOL violated U.S. laws. He believes it important for the Department of State to send letters to all major Hmong organizations in the United States to repeat this message to them directly. Dr. Yang Dao
remembered former EAP DAS Matt Daley delivering this message to a conference of Hmong Americans in 2004 with great impact. Dr. Yang Dao pointed out he appeared on radio programs and at Hmong-American gatherings after this conference to help repeat Mr.
Daley's message.
Fresno
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12. (S) Dr. Yang Dao also told A/DCM he has heard from his family that he is being invited to address a gathering of Hmong Americans in Fresno when he returns to the United States. (Note: he departs Vientiane tonight -- June 11). However, he is unwilling
to do so without protection from the local police and/or FBI. Since he appears to be willing to deliver to the Hmong American community a strong message against helping the insurgency, supporting him would appear to be in USG interests.
Action Requests
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13. (S) We recommend that the Department take the following actions: a) instruct Embassy Bangkok to coordinate with Thai authorities to check on the company named in para 5 (Borisat Wang Jing) and the several Hmong leaders currently living in Thailand
mentioned in paras 5, 6, and 8. b) consider the proposal for letters from the Department to the main Hmong organizations in the United States delivering the message stated by EAP DAS Daley in 2004: that support of attempts to overthrow the GOL violate U.
S. laws. c) pass on to the FBI Dr. Yang Dao's request for protection if he addresses a gathering of Hmong Americans in Fresno California, a central location for General Vang Pao supporters. Dr. Yang Dao may be reached at phone number: (763) 533-3446. Dr.
Yang Dao may be able to provide valuable information to the FBI regarding the inner workings of these Hmong organizations which may assist the ongoing FBI investigation(s).
COMMENT
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14. (S) Dr. Yang Dao knows all of these players well -- he was a political advisor to General Vang Pao before 1975 and was briefly a senior official in the Neo Hom organization in the early 1980s before he broke with Neo Hom over tactics. It is of course
likely that he is attempting a balancing act: using this opportunity to enhance his position within the Hmong-American community and furthering his own personal agenda while also attempting to keep the Hmong-American community within the confines of U.S.
law. Nonetheless, the message he seems willing to deliver is a message we need repeated in the Hmong-American community, so the Embassy recommends the Department follow up on his information and suggestions.
MCGEEHAN

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