Share1918
Buzz up!
E-Mail Print Text Size: tool nameclose tool goes here
100 Comments Similar stories:
■Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif.
Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif.
Vang Pao, a revered former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 81.
■Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif.
Vang Pao, Hmong guerrilla leader, dies in Calif.
Vang Pao, a revered former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong guerrillas in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 81.
■Vang Pao, Laotian general, has died
Vang Pao, Laotian general, has died
Vang Pao, a former general in the Royal Army of Laos who led thousands of Hmong mercenaries in a CIA-backed secret army during the Vietnam War, has died. He was 81.
■Big dueling events for Hmong New Year expected
Big dueling events for Hmong New Year expected
With just over a week to go before dueling Hmong New Year celebrations face off Dec. 26 in Fresno, organizers of both events say they expect crowds of 100,000.
That would essentially double the size of what has long been the biggest Hmong celebration in the Valley -- an event that draws visitors from around the world and creates an opportunity for far-flung families and friends to reunite.
But it's hard to tell whether the fight will result in two well-attended events six miles away from each other, or if one of the events will fizzle.
■Federal judge tosses parts of Laos conspiracy case
Federal judge tosses parts of Laos conspiracy case
A federal judge in Sacramento on Friday threw out a major portion of the grand jury indictment of 12 men on charges of plotting the violent overthrow of the communist regime in Laos.
Saying that prosecutors had not included enough information in parts of the indictment to enable the men to defend themselves and, in other parts, did not adequately back up the charges, U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. dismissed two counts of the five-count indictment and significant sections of the omnibus conspiracy count.
The indictment levels the charges at 11 Hmong Americans with deep roots in Laos and a retired Army lieutenant colonel from Woodland who did two tours in the Vietnam War and is a graduate of West Point. They are accused of attempting to buy weapons from an undercover firearms agent posing as a black market dealer in order to arm Hmong and other insurgents in Laos.
Gen. Vang Pao, an iconic figure in the Hmong community and a key U.S. ally during the Vietnam War, died Thursday afternoon in Clovis after spending days in the hospital with pneumonia and a heart problem.
Over 100 people crowded into the outpatient care center at Clovis Community Medical Center to grieve the loss of a beloved leader, who some saw as the George Washington of the Hmong.
"He was a larger-than-life figure for this community," Fresno City Council member Blong Xiong said. "It will take time to mourn this tragic news."
Gen. Vang, 81, had been admitted to Clovis Community on Dec. 26. He apparently was admitted shortly after making his annual appearance at the Hmong International New Year event at the Fresno Fairgrounds. He had lived in Southern California.
Charlie Waters, a friend and veterans advocate in Fresno, said Gen. Vang was suffering from pneumonia and an ongoing heart problem. He also had battled diabetes and had developed cataracts in the past few years.
Manny Crisostomo / The Sacramento Bee
Legendary Hmong General Vang Pao surrounded by his interpreter and security personnel during a recent visit to Sacramento. The leader of the CIA's secret Hmong guerrilla army during Vietnam War, the general, addressed local Hmong at the Sacramento Lao Family Community Center, Friday, February 6, 2004.
Carl Crawford/The Fresno BeeVang Pao, president of the national Lao Family Community, greets Hmong girls in traditional garb at the opening ceremony of Hmong New Year festivities at Kearney Park in Fresno.
CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS
General Vang Pao dies
Read breaking news updates Gen. Vang "was a great man and a true warrior," Waters said. "His two dreams were to get his people out of the jungle and to have his warriors buried at Arlington."
News of the death spread quickly Thursday evening.
"The Fresno community is deeply saddened by the loss of Gen. Vang Pao, who was a hero to the Hmong community here in Fresno and all across the country," Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin said in a statement. "Gen. Vang Pao was courageous in times of war and a giant in the advocacy of citizenship within the Hmong-American community in times of peace. He displayed the American flag proudly at every community event he held. He was an American patriot of the highest order."
Shortly before 8 p.m., the crowd inside the outpatient center parted as Gen. Vang's body was taken out of the hospital. Gen. Vang, dressed in a suit, was rolled on a gurney in view of the crowd to a van to be taken to a Boice Funeral Home in Clovis.
More than 100 people went to see him at a viewing at the funeral home Thursday night.
Funeral arrangements are being made with the hopes that he can be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., family spokesman Chai Vang said.
Vang Pao is revered by many as a father figure and leader who helped bring and settle the Hmong community into American life.
But he also has been controversial. Federal authorities in 2007 charged him and 10 others with conspiring to violently overthrow communist Laos. Charges against Gen. Vang were dropped in 2009.
Yet the arrest galvanized Hmong Americans who saw him as a symbol in the fight for public acknowledgment of the Hmong role in the war, and for liberation of those still living in Laotian jungle.
The central San Joaquin Valley has one of the largest Hmong populations in the country. Many Hmong -- some of whom fought beside American soldiers during the Vietnam War -- came here after fleeing Laos.
Conflict paved a path to prominence for Gen. Vang, viewed by some as a king and others as George Washington of the Hmong.
Born in December 1929 to farmers in a Laotian village, he became a teenage translator for French paratroopers fighting the Japanese in Laos during World War II.
He was selected to train at a French officers' school in Vietnam and became a commissioned officer in the French army. Laotian leaders made him a general, even though the Hmong were a small ethnic minority in the country.
In 1961, Gen. Vang was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to lead a secret army of Hmong soldiers against Laotian communists and their North Vietnamese counterparts using routes through Laos to supply their troops.
Read more:
http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/01/06/2222803/hmong-leader-vang-pao-dies.html#ixzz1AKcytHKi******
By:Nkauj Hmoob Lis
Fab Kis teb.
Tim 7 lub 1 hlis 2011.at 8:26 am
TU KUV SIAB HEEV
Ua cas xyoo no lub ntiaj teb yuav tsau ntais
Rau peb tus huab tais
Xyoo no lub ntuj yuav tsau nti
Ntiaj teb hmoo yuav tsis muaj tus luag ntxhi
Hnov mob hauv kuv sia ua luaj li
Hmoob txoj kev cia siab yuav tsis muaj chaw nti
Kuv lub siab hnov lawv tej kua muaj iab
Quaj nplawg ntias Nyob hauv txhua tus lub siab
Txoj kev hlub ua nws tau muab rau txhua tus
Zaum no nws yuav tau ncaim tso plhuav ntiaj teb mus
Nws txoj kev tau ua zoo rau hmoob lub tsev neeg nyob ntiaj teb no
Thov kom lub ntuj xam txog thiab pom es coj nws mus rau qhov chaw tau zoo hlo
Zaum no ces ntshe peb hmoob yuav ntsuag nos
Tsis muaj txiv los coj peb hmoob li txhua tus tos
Txoj ntshaws ib leej txiv ces yuav tag rau hnub no lawm
Ntshe peb yuav xav pom nws ib muag los tsis pom nws tawm
Yuav tsis muaj nws tawm qhov twg los ntxis
Ntiaj teb hmoob ces ntshe nyob tsuag niam ntsuag txiv
Zaum no kuv thov lub ntuj foom koob hmoov rau nws tsev neeg thiab
Kom txhua yam los lub ntuj pab lawv daws lawv txoj kev ntxhob siab
Kuv tu siab kawg tsis paub ua li cas li
Rau kuv los lub ntiaj teb nyob tsaus nti
Kua muag ntws si laim
Vim ntiaj tev hmoob tus huab tais tau tso peb nws tau ncaim Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad Crying or Very sad 
Home
Yog koj tso siab rau Yesxus lub siab ntshiab, nws yuav ua koj siab kaj lug 
