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The Laos plot thickens
Sacramento, California
US investigators now believe that an alleged plot to overthrow the Laos government by arms may have involved a former Wisconsin state senator and even a US congressman, but Hmong icon Vang Pao denied there was any such plan.
Many Hmong refugees wonder why they even left Thailand.
Vang Pao's lawyer said the general was innocent of all charges after his client's brief appearance in federal court in Sacramento on Tuesday.
"General Vang Pao has worked actively to pursue peaceful solutions to the problems in Laos and has disavowed violence," attorney John Balazs told reporters outside the courthouse.
Reports from the US said that at a community center in Fresno, dozens of Hmong immigrants who attended a Monday night English lesson fell silent as they absorbed the news. Several later said they felt sick and questioned why they had left their Thai refugee camp for California, if their leader, General Vang Pao, was in jail.
"I love my general. He is like my uncle," said a tearful Neng Vang, who regularly attends the nighttime language classes.
In contemporary Laos, Hmong people are still subject to detentions and human rights violations, according to the State Department.
Many recent immigrants arrive in the US still traumatised by war and decades of persecution, only to find that they are blocked from obtaining asylum or green cards under provisions of the USA Patriot Act, said Sharon Stanley, director of Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries.
The Associated Press reported that the unnamed US congressman, as well as the California Highway Patrol known as CHP, apparently were unwitting parties that Hmong conspirators hoped to use to further their plans, according to court documents and interviews Tuesday with investigators on the case, AP reported.
A sworn affidavit from an undercover agent states that "probable cause exists to believe" that former Wisconsin state Senator Gary George was among those involved in the conspiracy.
"There is going to be a wealth of information we're going to be following up on," said Nina S. Delgadillo, a special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "There may be other defendants - that's a strong possibility."
George has not been arrested or charged. Lo Cha Thao, 34, of Clovis, who once worked as an aide to the senator, was one of 10 people charged Monday in federal court in Sacramento.
The AP reports that George's attorney, Alex Flynn of Milwaukee, said the evidence in the indictment does not implicate his client.
"Gary George denies any allegations as defamatory and has as much interest in seeing the government of Laos overthrown as he does in the Klingons taking over the Starship Enterprise," Flynn told The Associated Press late Tuesday. "These allegations are preposterous."
George, 53, recently completed a four-year federal prison sentence for accepting kickbacks from a Milwaukee social service agency.
On Monday, federal prosecutors followed a six-month investigation by charging 10 people, including former Laotian military general Vang Pao and a former officer in the California National Guard.
Investigators said they may charge others as the investigation continues and they examine material seized from 14 locations across California, the AP says.
"We will go wherever the evidence takes us," First Assistant US Attorney Larry Brown said Tuesday outside a federal court hearing for four of the defendants.
He would not specifically say whether authorities were investigating the congressman, George or others referred to in the federal court documents.
Among those arrested Monday was Vang Pao, 77, a former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led Hmong counterinsurgents before he fled to the United States with thousands of other Hmong refugees after the Vietnam War.
Also charged were eight other members of the California Hmong community and a former California National Guard officer, Harrison Jack.
The 10 face charges that include violating the federal Neutrality Act by plotting the violent overthrow of Laos' communist government. A federal complaint alleges the men were raising money to recruit a mercenary force and buy $9.8 million worth of automatic weapons, grenades, rockets and shoulder-fired missiles.
The alleged plot unraveled because the arms dealer who was to supply the weapons and mercenaries was actually an undercover federal agent.
Investigators would not say how they believe George, the former Wisconsin senator, was involved in the plot. But Mark Reichel, the attorney appointed to represent Lo Cha Thao, said his client worked for George and two other Wisconsin state senators before returning to California about two years ago.
His client was recruited by the lawmakers after distinguishing himself with his work from 1994-1999 in a youth gang and drug prevention program run by the California National Guard, Reichel said.
Reichel said his client is innocent but said he and the others might have been trying to act to prevent persecution of Hmong who remain in Laos.
"The Hmong are being horribly slaughtered in Laos, and these individuals are aware of it," Reichel said.
The criminal complaint also refers to the alleged conspirators trying to get help from a US congressman, who is not named.
On April 12, federal investigators recorded a telephone call between Lo Cha Thao and Jack, a Vietnam veteran and retired lieutenant colonel in the California National Guard. They were discussing a conference call between national Hmong leaders and a congressman, according to court documents.
"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,'" according to the federal affidavit.
During a March 5 meeting at a Sacramento restaurant, Jack told the undercover ATF agent posing as an arms dealer that he had contacted a commissioner with the California Highway Patrol and arranged for Hmong leaders to help recruit people to become CHP officers.
The goal was for the Hmong officers, once trained, to eventually "abandon the CHP and move to Laos to take positions of trust in the law enforcement departments of the new Lao government," according to an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.
CHP spokesman Tom Marshall said Assistant Commissioner Arthur Anderson was contacted and arranged a March 7 tour of the CHP academy in West Sacramento for Jack and 26 Hmong representatives, including at least four who now face federal charges.
"It was presented as an opportunity to recruit people from the Laotian community. We don't know about this other stuff," Marshall told the AP on Tuesday.
The CHP is cooperating with federal investigators, he said, but "there is no indication of any criminal activity on the part of our people."
Also Tuesday, the permanent secretary for the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Somphet Khoukahoun, said he would wait to comment until authorities were briefed by US officials.
The Thai government declined to comment before a verdict was reached.
"Thailand will not tolerate the use of its territory for any movement that undermines the stability of its neighboring countries," said Tharit Charungvat, a spokesman for Thailand's Foreign Affairs Ministry.
After fighting as US-backed guerillas in Laos, members of the ethnic minority were all but abandoned when the country fell to communist forces in 1975. More than 300,000 Laotian refugees, mostly Hmong, fled into Thailand.
About 145,000 members of Laotian ethnic groups have resettled in the US, establishing large enclaves in Minneapolis, Fresno and in cities throughout Wisconsin, a US State Department spokesman said.
The 10 men named in two federal complaints include beloved members of Central California's Hmong community. Among them were the founder of Fresno's annual Hmong International New Year celebration and a former police officer from the nearby suburb of Clovis.
YES! They are actually touching on the killings in Laos!
