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| 9/12/2007 4:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Three St. Paul Hmong Men, Two Lao-Hmong Men Missing In Laos
Elizabeth Thao
Three Hmong men from St. Paul and two Lao-Hmong are missing in Laos after being arrested and taken into custody by Lao military and security forces on August 25, 2007. The three Hmong men from St. Paul have been identified as Hakit Yang, 29, Cong Shi Neng Yang, 31, and Trillion Yunhaison, 41. The men left on their trip to Laos on July 10, 2007 and families back home received news of their arrests on August 25, 2007, via a short phone call from Yunhaison. Their exact whereabouts are still currently unknown.
Hmong Times has conducted an exclusive interview with Kong Xue Lee, owner and proprietor of Ber 5 Guesthouse in Phonesavanh, Xieng Khouang, where the initial arrest took place. Through Lee's information, Hmong Times has learned that three other men had been arrested that day in addition to the three men from St. Paul.
According to Lee, on August 23, 2007, the three men from St. Paul checked into his guesthouse. They had planned to stay for three nights. The men had rented their own car for personal use and had been making trips daily, being gone all day and only returning to stay at the guesthouse at night fall. It is been said that the three men had been venturing to the northern borders where Laos meets China or Vietnam. They had already taken two whole-day trips and upon returning from their third one immediately notified Lee's son, Nou Cheng Lee, 18, that they wanted to pay their guesthouse bill and leave. Nou informed the men that they would have to pay the guesthouse fee for that day as well because they had arrived after morning check-out hours. The three men agreed, paid the fee, and immediately left in their car only to be stopped by a police barricade at the entrance. Police cars from Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, had immediately stopped and arrested the men from St. Paul. Nou Cheng went outside in order to see what the trouble was only to be arrested by the police himself.
Incidentally, two Lao-Hmong men who had also been staying at that guesthouse were arrested at that time as well. According to Lee, those two men did not have anything to do with the men from St. Paul. They had merely been leaving at the same time as the other men and had been arrested only because all of their vehicles had been leaving at the same time. The two men, Vwj Yang and Yee Yang, are from Vientiane and had been visiting Phonesavanh to visit their relatives and attend a wedding. They were just headed to the market when the police stopped and arrested them at the same time they arrested the Nou Cheng Lee. The whereabouts of Vwj and Yee Yang are also unknown.
Nou Cheng Lee was released from captivity after two days, after he and his father convinced the authorities that he had merely been working in the guesthouse that day and had only been trying to collect the guesthouse fees. He had nothing to do with the men from St. Paul or their business.
The motives behind why the men from St. Paul had been visiting the country or why they had been arrested have varied. Minnesota newspapers have cited everything from visiting relatives, to searching for business opportunities, to becoming farmers, and even going so far as to say that the men had been supporters of General Vang Pao and his recent charges of plotting to overthrow the Lao government. However, these accusations have been deemed to have no truth in them and the real motives and reasons about the entire situation are still unknown.
Philip Smith, the Washington director of Lao Veterans of America, says that according to his sources on August 30, the three men were seen being taken out of Ponthong prison in Vientiane, hooded and shackled and thrown into a military truck. Ponthong prison is reportedly "notorious" for mistreatment of their prisoners. Smith presumes that the men have been transported to another Lao prison or detention camp for further interrogation or worse, but Lao officials have not been reached for comment on the situation. The wives and families of the three have been desperate for any information about their husbands asking, "Why are [the Lao Government] keeping this a secret? Everybody is worried sick and we need some answers here."
There had been other visitors staying at the guesthouse as well, but the policemen had only been interested in anybody who was leaving at the same time of the three men from St. Paul.
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St. Paul, MN
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