General Hmong Will Buried in California

General Hmong Will Buried in California

Proponents, General ethnic Lao Hmong, Vang Pao, Kawis (13 / 1) says the funeral will be held next month in California because they are under pressure to do the show at the Arlington National Cemetery.


Community leaders to announce a traditional funeral took place from February 4 to 9 in a building the convention center in central California city of Fresno, one of the shelter 250 000 Hmong community members in the United States.

Vang Pao, who died last week in California at the age of 81 years, leading the "secret army" which helped support the U.S. CIA during the Vietnam War. Ethnic Hmong, the mountain population, suffered persecution after Laos fell to the communists in the 1975. Date of burial, which is expected to attract thousands of Hmong, defined as the position of the moon, said Vang Pao's friend Charlie Waters. "Everything should be harmonized," he said. "It's part of the culture."

Cemetery is just a ceremony, and supporters of Hmong still asked the members of parliament and military authorities to arrange a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, burial place du outside Washington for U.S. war veterans.

"Vang Pao is a great leader in terms of contribution to U.S. national security and defense of the Kingdom of Laos during the Vietnam War," said Philip Smith, the Washington liaison for the Lao American Veterans. "He was a tireless champion in defending freedom and human rights not only from among the Hmong but also the people of Laos, and he will always be remembered for that," he said. Vang Pao, fierce opponent of communist government in Vientiane, is also a controversial figure.

In 2007, he was arrested in California for allegedly plotting to overthrow foreign governments after a secret agent trying to sell weapons at a Thai restaurant. Prosecutors dropped those charges in 2009. On Monday, a judge terminate the remaining case of 11 Hmong Americans as a defendant in this case, the persistent asking questions about the government's evidence.