Expressing Sense of House Regarding Need for Freedom and Democratic Reform in Laos

EXPRESSING SENSE OF HOUSE REGARDING NEED FOR FREEDOM AND DEMOCRATIC REFORM IN LAOS -- (House of Representatives - May 05, 2004)

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 402) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the urgent need for freedom, democratic reform, and international monitoring of elections, human rights and religious liberty in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

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Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, before this House today I would like to restate my strong support for H. Res. 402, of which I am a cosponsor. As a leading critic of the Laotian government in the U.S. House of Representatives, I am very pleased that this legislation has made it to the House floor today, and believe it speaks directly to the question-which has been hotly debated in recent years-of whether or not we ought to grant Laos Normal Trade Relations status. As most members of this House know, I am staunchly opposed to our nation providing the brutal regime in Laos with any improved relationship until it gets its act together on a whole host of issues. Granting Laos NTR before we see some real movement toward change is ill-advised, inappropriate, and just plain wrong.

In support of H. Res. 402, I am asking today for a number of important items to be read into the RECORD. First, an article that recently appeared in the Appleton Post-Crescent on the case of Houa Ly, one of my Hmong-American constituents who went missing at the Thailand-Laos border in 1999. Second, a pair of letters 21 other Members of Congress and I sent to the administration last year, detailing many of the problems we see with the Laotian government, and reiterating our opposition to NTR for Laos. I appreciate in advance your consideration of the issues presented in these documents, and look forward to continuing to work to advance the freedom of the Laotian people.

Family's Plight at Heart of Trade Relations Clash

(By Ed Culhane)

Neng Xiong Ly is consumed by sadness.

It has been five years since the Appleton woman's husband, Houa Ly, was waylaid on the banks of the Mekong River,
the border between Thailand and his home country of Laos.

No one has seen him or heard from him since. Deprive of her husband, Neng Xiong Ly teeters on the edge of poverty.
Asked to describe life without her husband, she wept softly. "I must be the poorest American," she said in her native
language. Houa Ly (pronounced HOO-AH LEE) was 55 when he vanished, a veteran of the U.S. "secret war" in Laos,
a Vietnam-era medic who saved the lives of American pilots shot down in the jungle. His disappearance, still shrouded
in mystery, has re-emerged at the center of a political fight on the floor of the U.S. Congress. With the support of
President Bush and the U.S. State Department, the communist government of Laos is seeking the benefits of Normal
Trade Relations status. But a group of 21 congressmen and senators, led by Rep. Mark Green, R-Green Bay, so far has
blocked those benefits. Green argues that the country's leaders-who deny any knowledge of Ly-have not come
clean. Even now, Green said, the last of the rebellious Hmong in the jungles of northern Laos are being systemically
starved, raped, tortured and killed by Laotian forces and by divisions of Vietnamese soldiers operating in Laos. "It's
brutal, it's repressive and it's barbaric," Green said. "It's hard for Americans to fully comprehend the barbarity and the
contempt for human rights that exists in that area." Yer Ly of St. Paul, Minn., one of five daughters Houa Ly and Neng
Xiong raised in the Fox Valley, said she misses her father terribly. Her children miss him. "He is just the best," she
said. "There is no word to say he is this or that. He is just the best."

WORLDS APART

Neng Xiong Ly speaks little English. She works nights on a production line for a local manufacturer. Her take-home
pay is about $1,000 a month. All but $100 of that is swallowed by the mortgage on their home. "Se is really struggling
a lot," said her daughter, Ge, who acted as a translator. Before they were drawn into the war, Neng Xiong and Houa Ly lived the traditional tribal life of the Hmong people, hunting and gathering and practicing small-scale agriculture in the
high plains and mountain jungles of northern Laos.

"Before the war, it was regular days," Neng Xiong Ly said. "Farm, cook, feed the animals." That life was lost when
divisions of North Vietnamese soldiers poured across the northern Lao border in the 1960s. The Hmong, led by the
charismatic and prescient Gen. Vang Pao, abandoned the high plains of Xiang Khoang province and established
positions in the surrounding mountains where there were armed and funded by the CIA. As a young man, Houa Ly

served as a medic with Pao's freedom fighters. Trained as commandos, they were fabled for their bravery and
resourcefulness, for their intimate knowledge of the mountain jungles. When American pilots were shot down, the
Hmong would find and rescue them, engage in firefights to protect them. Hunted by communist forces, these warrior
farmers could no longer think in terms of "home." "Because of the war between America and Vietnam, the Vietnamese
were always killing everyone," Neng Xiong Ly said. "There was no safety for the children and the women. They would
have to move all the time." Houa Ly saved the lives of three American pilots during the war and helped dozens of
others. His wife and two of his daughters said he did not carry weapons. "He was not a fighter, he was a nurse," said his
youngest daughter, Yer Ly, who lives in St. Paul. Neng Xiong Ly cooked for soldiers and pilots at Long Cheng, a CIA
airbase in the mountains of Xiang Khoang province. A photograph of the base hands in her living room. The United
States abandoned Laos, and its Hmong allies, in 1973. Two years later, the country fell to the communist Pathet Lao,
backed by the North Vietnamese Army. Thousands of Hmong were killed. Others were imprisoned in forced labor
camps. Tens of thousands fled for Thailand. In October 1978, Houa Ly crossed the Mekong with his wife and four
daughters. Yer Ly was born in Thailand. She was 8 months old when the family immigrated to the United States. They
settled in the Fox Valley. "We are the people who helped the Americans," Neng Xiong Ly said. "That is why we had to
move."

A FATEFUL TRIP

Houa Ly had traveled to Thailand once before, around 1987, to visit a sister who would later immigrate to the Fox
Cities. His return trip in 1999 was a break from work as a machine operator with Wisconsin Tissue Mills.

"He said it had been a long time," Neng Xiong said. "He said he needed a vacation." At 6:30 a.m. May 7, 1999, Neng
Xiong received a call from the U.S. embassy in Thailand. She was told her husband had been killed near the Laos
border. "They just told me my husband went over the border to Laos and that somebody had taken him," she said. She
fainted. A half-hour later, she called Yer Ly in St. Paul. She said she had no reason to live. On her end, Yer Ly couldn't
speak, couldn't breathe. She fell to the floor, clutching the phone. Various unconfirmed reports about what happened to
Houa Ly have emerged from congressional and private inquiries. He had traveled to Thailand with a relative, Neng
Lee. They met two other Hmong-Americans, Michael and Hue Vang of California, on the trip. The four were at a water
festival in Chiang Kong, Thailand, on the western bank of the Mekong. In Indochina, the New Year is celebrated for a
week in mid-April. In Chiang Kong, the group was approached by a man who identified himself as the police chief
from Ban Houayxay in Laos, just across the river. He said the police were allowing people into the country without
visas to celebrate the festival.

Neng Lee and Hue Vang walked away to shop in Chiang Khong. When they returned, Ly and Michael Vang were
gone. Witnesses said they were seen being forced into a boat that sped across the river into Laos.

An Associated Press story published in Asian Week in 2000 contained a similar version of the disappearance. A
Hmong investigator was told by sources that Ly and Michael Vang, and two Hmong from Thailand, accepted the
invitation to cross the river. Once in Laos, they were arrested. The Thailand Hmong escaped back across the river to
tell the story.

Some news stories have referred to speculation that Ly and Michael Vang were in Indochina to provide assistance to
Hmong rebels in northern Laos.

Green said he never has seen or heard any evidence to support this.

Hmong veterans in the Fox Cities said this theory makes no sense. While some Hmong send money to relatives in
Laos, there is nothing two men could do for bands of Hmong hunted by divisions of troops deep in the interior.

WE WON'T GIVE UP

Six months after word of Houa Ly's disappearance, Green arranged a meeting in his office with Neng Xiong Ly, Yer
Ly, another of the sisters and three representatives from the State Department. He also arranged a press conference for
the Ly family and for other families of people missing in Laos.

State Department officials have conducted two on-site investigations in Laos, but were largely at the mercy of Laos
officials, who at first delayed the effort and then placed restrictions on it. U.S. officials have learned nothing, said
Green and family members.

Five years ago, State Department officials said finding Houa Ly and Michael Vang was a top priority.

Yer Ly no longer believes that. She fears that her father, a man who risked his life to save Americans in the jungles of
Laos, will be forgotten.

Apart from Green, who has steadfastly pushed for a stronger effort, no one from the government calls anymore. No one
will answer her questions.

"What I think is that he is an Asian-American citizen," she said, "and so it is not a top priority for them."

Green suspects Laotian officials were involved. At the very least, he said, they impeded the investigation. Although the
State Department, pushing for Normal Trade Relations, now gives Laos better marks, its staff was dissatisfied in
November 1999, reporting the Lao government "has been slow to respond to our requests for access to the area and has
tried to place restrictions on our investigators."

That was when it mattered, Green said. That was before the trail grew cold.

Still, Green said he would continue to press the U.S. government, and the United Nations, to learn the fates of Ly and
Vang.

He, too, has suggested the United States would be putting greater pressure on Laos if the missing citizens were native-
born Americans.

"This has been a great sadness for me," Green said. "We won't give up, as long as the families don't give up."

Neng Xiong Ly said she was deeply grateful to Green and to his chief of staff, Chris Tuttle.

"I want thank them from the bottom of my heart," she said. "They are the only two Americans who went out of their
way to help."

Yer Ly thinks her father is still alive, locked away in a prison camp. Her only evidence comes from her heart.
"I don't have anything to prove my father is alive," she said. "It is a gut feeling that I have, that my mother has, that my whole family has.

"When someone you love ..... when they pass away ..... it is a different feeling. We don't have that feeling."

September 9, 2003.

Hon. COLIN POWELL,

Secretary of State,

Washington, DC.

DEAR MR. SECRETARY: Attached is a letter, signed by myself and 21 of my colleagues in the U.S. House of
Representatives, asking that you take no further steps toward granting Normal Trade Relations (NTR) to Laos.

Although the letter speaks largely for itself, many of my colleagues and I feel it is important to note that, since this
letter was written and began circulating for co-signatures, several facts have come to light that further reinforce our
assertion that granting NTR to Laos is an imprudent step at this time.

Among these disturbing developments:

(1) In June, the Laotian government arrested, imprisoned, tried, convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison a
(2) Lutheran minister from St. Paul, Minnesota. While in captivity, this U.S. citizen was denied consular access for
(3) over a week and subjected to a ridiculous "trial" before the Laotian judiciary system. Though eventually released
(4) after more than a month, the Laotians' handling of this case speaks volumes about their commitment to friendly
(5) relations with the United States.
(2) Two well-respected European journalists traveling with the American mentioned above were subjected to the same treatment, all apparently because of the group's investigation of Laotian government human rights abuses against
ethnic Hmong minorities in remote areas of Laos.

(3) According to the BBC, Laotian representatives met in Pyongyang with representatives of North Korea just last
month. There, "both sides ..... exchanged views on the need to boost cooperation ..... (in) talks (that) proceeded in a

friendly atmosphere." This meeting is consistent with the Laotian government's past close relationship with the North Koreans.

(4) According to the Vietnam News Agency and other sources, in May "Top leaders in Myanmar and Laos ..... underscored the need to strengthen their cooperation in security and other fields ..... the leaders expressed their delight with the two countries' growing friendship and highly valued the mutual assistance and successful cooperation in the spheres of politics, security, economy, trade and socio-culture." Obviously, myself and others in both houses of Congress find such statements to be very troubling given what we all know about the Burmese government.

(5) Finally, according to this year's State Department "Voting Practices in the United Nations" document, Laos ranks 184 out of 186 countries in its record of agreement with the United States in U.N. General Assembly votes. In fact, this document shows that North Korea's record of agreement with the U.S. (10.9 percent) is more than double that of Laos' (5.4 percent). Iran, the world's most prominent state sponsor of terrorism, was almost four times more likely to support us (19.7 percent) than Laos (5.4 percent). This, perhaps more than anything else, is the clearest statement that Laos is not yet ready to improve relations between our two countries.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. I look forward to working together with you on this and other issues in the future.

Sincerely,

Mark Green,

Member of Congress.

September 9, 2003.

Hon. PHIL CRANE,

Chairman, Subcommittee on Trade, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. SANDER LEVIN,

Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Trade, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Washington,
DC.

DEAR CHAIRMAN CRANE AND RANKING MEMBER LEVIN: We write today to implore you to take no further
steps toward granting Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status to the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR). We
respectfully assert that granting NTR to Laos at this time would in fact represent an ill-conceived reward for the
consistently dreadful behavior the LPDR regime has exhibited in recent years at home, abroad, and in its bilateral
relations with the United States. We offer the following seven facts as evidence the LPDR has not yet earned such an
upgrade in its trade status.

(1) Two U.S. citizens remain missing after disappearing at the Laotian border in 1999. The LPDR government has
(2) been uncooperative in its dealings with U.S. authorities working to investigate their case, and the LPDR
(3) government may have been involved in the disappearance itself. According to American eyewitnesses, U.S.
(4) citizens Houa Ly and Michael Vang went missing on April 19, 1999 after having last been seen with Lao
(5) government authorities near the Laos-Thailand border. U.S. investigators have since pursued the case, but the
(6) State Department has acknowledged a lack of cooperation by the LPDR in the investigation, stating in
(7) November 1999 that the Lao government "has been slow to respond to our requests for access to the area and
(8) has tried to place restrictions on our investigators." In July of 1999, staff members of the Senate Foreign
(9) Relations Committee traveled to Laos and received information on the case from what they characterized as a
(10) "very credible source." The staff report filed after the trip states that, "with a great degree of detail, the tip we
(11) received corroborated Hmong-American suspicions that the men in fact crossed into Laos and that the
(12) government of Laos captured and killed Messrs. Vang and Ly."
(2) As documented in this year's State Department Report on Human Rights Practices, the LPDR continues to be of the world's most reprehensible abusers of human rights-with a repertoire that includes torture, harsh restrictions on the press and free speech, and imprisonment of people for their religious beliefs. The report speaks for itself, stating that last year: "The (Lao) Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses. Citizens do not have the right to change their government. Members of the security forces abused detainees, especially those suspected of insurgent or antigovernment activity. Prisoners were abused and tortured, and prison conditions generally are extremely harsh and life threatening..... The judiciary was subject to executive, legislative, and LPRP influence, was corrupt, and did not ensure citizens due process. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy rights.
The Government restricted freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association. The Government continued to restrict freedom of religion, and police and provincial authorities arrested and detained more than 60 members of Christian churches, with 4 members of religious communities in custody or incarcerated for their religious beliefs at year's end." These appalling human rights abuses are of particular concern in the so-called "Saysamboun Special Zone" in Laos, where reports of LPDR military offenses against ethnic minorities are common and disturbing. Finally, it is important to note that independent human rights monitoring organizations such as Amnesty International continue to be barred from entering Laos by the LPDR government.

(3) The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom this year called Laos one of the world's worst violators of religious freedom, stating that forced renunciations of faith and imprisonment of people for their religious beliefs are tragically frequent. In its 2003 report to the president and Congress, the commission urged the Bush administration to name Laos a "Country of Particular Concern," which would place it in the company of such terrifying regimes as Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Sudan, Burma and North Korea. According to the commissions report, "for at least the last several years, the government of Laos has engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom ..... these include the arrest and prolonged detention and imprisonment of members of religious minorities on account of their religious activities, as well as instances where Lao officials have forced Christians to renounce their faith. Between 100 and 200 individuals have been arrested since 1999. At the same time, dozens of churches have been closed. These violations have continued to be committed in the past year....."

(4) Shockingly, the LPDR continues to foster close ties with Kim Jong-Il's Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)--stating two years ago that relations "of friendship and cooperation" between Laos and the North Korean pariah state "are steadily growing stronger," and congratulating the North Korean people "on the shining successes made in their efforts to build a powerful nation ..... under the wise leadership of Kim Jong-Il." In a joint communiqué issued July 17, 2001 by the leadership of the LPDR and DPRK, the North Korean government also commended the Lao government for the "great successes made in their efforts to consolidate and develop the people's democratic system and estimated the daily rising role and position of the LPDR."

(5) The LPDR recently held state-sanctioned rallies speaking out against U.S. military action in Iraq in the most inflammatory of terms-stating that "the war will bring disaster to the whole of humanity," and "demand(ing) the U.S. respect the peace and sovereignty of Iraq." These and other similarly belligerent comments were transmitted throughout Laos on state-run radio and around the globe through various media services.

(6) A substantial majority of Laotian-Americans-many of whom know, first hand, the brutality meted out by the LPDR regime-are strongly opposed to offering NTR to Laos. These people, many of whom are Hmong-Americans who assisted the United States military during the Vietnam War, view the offer of NTR to the government of Laos as a fundamental betrayal of not only them personally, but of our American principles. According to the most recent census, there are approximately 170,000 Hmong living in the United States. An almost equal number of Lao live in the United States as well.

(7) Although some argue that Laos presents a potentially lucrative market for U.S. companies, the facts show otherwise. While proponents of improved trade relations with Laos claim that the potential economic benefits outweigh the significant moral questions about Laos as a trading partner, the truth is that the LPDR's Gross Domestic Product in 2001 was estimated to be $9.2 billion. For comparison, the Gross Municipal Product of Fort Wayne, Indiana in 2001 was more than double that amount: $18.8 billion. Laos' authoritarian internal economic policies, not a lack of trade with the United States, has created this dismal reality. Without substantial change in those policies, neither the people of Laos nor the United States will ever benefit economically from NTR.

This letter should not be interpreted as a statement that we believe the door to NTR for Laos should be shut forever. In our opinion, however, Laos has failed miserably to demonstrate that it is ready for or deserves NTR at this time. In fact, in the six years since the negotiation of the U.S.-LPDR bilateral trade agreement, the Lao regime's record on basic issues like those mentioned above has actually become worse, not better.

We believe that if, over the next few years, the LPDR government is able to successfully demonstrate concrete improvements in these areas of concern, consideration of NTR for Laos may be appropriate. Until then, however, we should send a strong message to the LPDR regime that economic rewards from the United States will not be forthcoming unless it can improve its abysmal record.

Respectfully,

Mark Green, Barney Frank, Duncan Hunter, Earl Pomeroy, John Doolittle, Patrick Kennedy, William Delahunt, Ron Kind, James Langevin, Howard Coble, Robin Hayes, Sue Myrick, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Christopher Smith, Gil Gutknecht, Devin Nunes, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Thomas Petri, George Radanovich, Mark Kennedy, Frank Wolf, Dana Rohrabacher.