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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
The strains imposed on the Neutralists by their
alliance of
convenience with the Pathet Lao were now manifested. In
addition,
the presence of the North Vietnamese army that this
alliance
implied did nothing to support neutralism. As if to
confirm their
doubts, the Neutralists were subjected to communist
propaganda.
Deuane Sunnalath, Kong Le's subordinate, allowed himself
to be
subverted by this political influence and started
publishing his
own newspaper, Khao Pathan Van (Daily News), full
of antiUnited States propaganda. Most of Kong Le's followers
remained
fiercely loyal, however, and the dissidents, who called
themselves
Patriotic Neutralists, remained a minority.
On April 1, 1963, less than a year after the Geneva
agreement,
foreign minister Quinim was assassinated in Vientiane.
Protesting
the lack of security, Pathet Lao members of the coalition
immediately left town. Following a series of incidents in
which one
of Kong Le's closest aides was assassinated and a United
States
plane on a supply flight to Kong Le authorized by Souvanna
Phouma
was shot down by Deuane's troops, fighting broke out in
the
Neutralist camp. Kong Le pulled his men back from Khang
Khay and
set up a new command post at Muang Souy on the western
edge of the
Plain of Jars. Kong Le was running short of supplies,
however,
because the Soviet airlift had ended, and the North
Vietnamese were
in a position to block supplies by road.
An estimated 10,000 North Vietnamese were still present
in
Laos, despite the stipulation their government had signed
at Geneva
that withdrawal of all foreign troops be completed by
October 7. In
preparation for a massive escalation of the conflict in
South
Vietnam, North Vietnam had expanded the Ho Chi Minh Trail
through
eastern Laos and garrisoned it with support troops. North
Vietnamese troops also were present in northern Laos,
where they
were engaged almost continuously in pressuring the Hmong
guerrillas. All United States military advisers had been
withdrawn
by the deadline, but clandestine operations continued, and
supply
and reconnaissance flights still were conducted over such
heavily
contested areas as the Plain of Jars. Antiaircraft fire
took its
toll on such flights, and as a result, the planes began
attacking
targets on the ground in Laos beginning in 1964.
Data as of July 1994
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