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Former guerrilla leader dies in the US
Former Laotian general Vang Pao, known to be the biggest hero of Vietnam war, has died in the US at the age of 81.
During the Vietnam war, Pao had led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a secret army backed by the CIA. The guerrilla leader died on Thursday following a battle with pneumonia.
After moving to the US when the communists had seized control of Laos, Pao was regarded as a leader and a father figure by the large Hmong refugee populations who resettled in California’s Central Valley, Minneapolis and cities throughout Wisconsin.
A former CIA Chief credited Pao as being “the biggest hero of the Vietnam war”. Pao had spent 15 years heading a CIA-backed guerrilla army fighting against a communist takeover of the Southeast Asian peninsula.
Pao returned to the US after his guerrillas ultimately lost to communist forces. He has been credited with brokering the resettlement of tens of thousands of Hmong.
