IB History Laotians and Highland People of Laos, Including the Hmong People Notes

Laos After 1975: The Hmong Paid the Highest Price for Their Wartime Alliance with the US

1. The Pathet Lao took power in Laos in December 1975 and established the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
   1. The new communist government abolished the monarchy, collectivized agriculture, and sent tens of thousands of former officials, military officers, and intellectuals to re-education camps.

General Laotian refugees

1. Between 1975 and 1990, approximately 350,000 Laotians fled the country.
   1. Many were lowland Lao who had worked for the previous government or military.
   2. Others were professionals, merchants, and students who faced restrictions on their freedoms under the new regime.
2. The Pathet Lao imposed collectivization on agriculture, nationalized businesses, and restricted freedom of movement and expression.
   1. Between 1978 and 1979, these restrictions on trade and collectivisation deepened rural hardship before the government eased the policy.
   2. These policies pushed many lowland Lao to cross the Mekong River into Thailand.
   3. The crossing itself was dangerous, especially during the monsoon season when the river swelled.

The Hmong and the Secret War

1. The Hmong people of the Laotian highlands had a unique and devastating experience.
   1. Starting in 1961, the CIA recruited Hmong fighters to wage a covert conflict known as the Secret War against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces operating along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
2. General Vang Pao led the Hmong forces.
   1. At its peak, approximately 30,000 Hmong soldiers fought in this CIA-backed army.
   2. The Hmong suffered heavy casualties.
   3. By the end of the war, an estimated 30,000 Hmong fighters and tens of thousands of civilians had been killed.
3. When the US withdrew from Southeast Asia in 1975, it left the Hmong exposed.
   1. The Pathet Lao government treated the Hmong as traitors and targeted them for systematic persecution.
   2. Vang Pao and a small number of Hmong leaders were airlifted to Thailand, but the vast majority were left behind.

Persecution and reports of chemical weapons

1. After 1975, the Pathet Lao launched military operations against Hmong communities in the highlands.
   1. Villages were bombed, crops destroyed, and civilians killed.
   2. Thousands of Hmong fled deeper into the jungle to escape.
2. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hmong refugees reported attacks using a mysterious substance they called Yellow Rain.
   1. They described a yellow powder falling from aircraft that caused vomiting, bleeding, and death.
   2. The US government investigated and initially blamed the Soviet Union for supplying chemical weapons to Laos and Vietnam.
3. The Yellow Rain claims remain contested.
   1. Some scientists later argued that the yellow substance was bee faeces, not a weapon.
   2. But for the Hmong, the experience of these attacks was real and drove further waves of flight.
   3. Whether or not Yellow Rain was a chemical weapon, the Hmong were clearly subjected to violent military campaigns that killed thousands.

Crossing the Mekong and life in Thai camps

1. Hmong refugees faced a dangerous journey to reach Thailand.
   1. Most had to travel from the highlands to the Mekong River, often on foot through jungle while avoiding Pathet Lao patrols.
   2. The Mekong crossing was perilous.
   3. Many Hmong could not swim, and the river claimed lives regularly.
2. The largest Hmong refugee camp in Thailand was Ban Vinai, which operated from 1975 to 1992.
   1. At its peak, Ban Vinai held over 40,000 Hmong.
   2. The camp became a semi-permanent community with its own markets, schools, and social structures.
   3. But residents lived in uncertainty, not knowing if they would be resettled abroad or forced to return to Laos.
3. In 1989, the Comprehensive Plan of Action changed regional procedures for screening, resettlement, and repatriation, shaping the terms on which Ban Vinai eventually closed.
4. After Ban Vinai closed in 1992, thousands of Hmong were repatriated to Laos.
   1. International monitors reported cases of arrest, surveillance, and discrimination against returnees.
   2. Many Hmong who refused repatriation gathered at the Wat Tham Krabok temple in Thailand, which became an unofficial camp housing around 15,000 people.
   3. They remained there until 2004, when the United States accepted most of the temple's residents for resettlement.

Resettlement and the Hmong diaspora

1. The United States accepted the majority of resettled Hmong refugees, largely because of the Hmong role in the CIA's Secret War.
   1. The main Hmong communities in the US settled in Minnesota, California (especially the Central Valley), and Wisconsin.
   2. Smaller numbers went to France and Australia.
2. Resettlement posed enormous challenges.
   1. Most Hmong came from highland agrarian communities with no formal literacy tradition.
   2. They had to adapt to urban Western environments with different languages, climates, economies, and social norms.
   3. Older Hmong often struggled with isolation and cultural dislocation.
   4. Younger Hmong faced pressures to assimilate while maintaining their identity.

Other highland groups: the Mien and the Khmu

1. The Hmong were not the only highland group displaced from Laos.
   1. The Mien (also called Yao or Iu Mien) were another highland people who had fought alongside the CIA during the Secret War.
   2. Like the Hmong, the Mien faced reprisals from the Pathet Lao after 1975.
   3. Around 40,000 Mien fled to Thailand, and many were eventually resettled in the United States, primarily in Oregon and California.
2. The Khmu were the largest non-Lao ethnic group in Laos.
   1. Some Khmu had served in the Royal Lao Army or CIA-supported forces and faced persecution after the communist takeover.
   2. Many Khmu fled to Thailand alongside Hmong and Mien refugees.
   3. Their experience differed from the Hmong because the Khmu were less politically organized and received less international attention.
   4. As a result, fewer Khmu were resettled in third countries, and many spent longer periods in Thai camps before being repatriated.

Those who stayed behind

1. Not all Hmong made it to Thailand or were resettled abroad.
   1. Some remained hidden in the jungles of Laos for decades, living in small groups and evading government forces.
   2. The last known groups of Hmong jungle holdouts were discovered in the 2000s, over 25 years after the war ended.
2. The Hmong case shows how displacement can be prolonged across generations.
   1. Their original displacement was caused by Cold War geopolitics, but the consequences persisted long after the Cold War itself ended.