The situation became so desperate that after four years in solitary, Hoat's jailers placed another man in the cell to watch over him. But when the fighting ended, he found that his country remained in poverty, that his local government was rife with corruption and sloth, that he could barely find a parcel of land upon which to make his home. He cried many times when he talked. He thought the war was useless. It is this collective loss of faith that seems to grieve Hoat the most.
Communism now is out of date.
What they call now communism in Vietnam . . . There exists no more communism in Vietnam. It's just a very bad political system. Hoat did not want to leave his country, even when it became clear that he would not be released otherwise. Only after Thuc regained access to Vietnam last year, and begged him to leave for his friends and family and his own health, did he reluctantly agree.