Vang Pao circa 1962 to circa 1964. Vang Pao, the Hmong military leader charged with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos, was ordered yesterday by a United States federal court judge to remain in custody without bail. Vang Pao and nine other people, mostly members of the Hmong immigrant community in California's Central Valley, were arrested last week in a sting operation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities say the group was planning to buy a cache of arms, ship them to Thailand and then smuggle them into Laos, where they would blow up government buildings in Vientiane , the Laotian capital. Outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento , California yesterday, about 2,000 white-clad supporters rallied for Vang Pao's release, holding portraits of the former Royal Lao Army general and waving signs saying "Honor your war heroes – don't jail them" and "Free our leader." "He is to us like George Washington is to American citizens," Vang Zang, a Hmong leader from Minnesota was quoted as saying to the crowd by the Sacramento Bee . "The government has wrongly accused our father. But the moment he is released, he will go up ten times in popularity." Vang Pao led a covert Hmong army backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the Laotian Civil War , or the "Secret War", which paralleled the U.S. fight against communism in Vietnam and the Vietnam War .
Vang Pao , the military leader charged with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos, was ordered yesterday by a United States federal court judge to remain in custody without bail. Vang Pao and nine other people, mostly members of the Hmong immigrant community in California's Central Valley, were arrested last week in a sting operation by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities say the group was planning to buy a cache of arms, ship them to Thailand and then smuggle them into Laos, where they would blow up government buildings in , the Laotian capital. Outside the federal courthouse in , California yesterday, about 2,000 white-clad supporters rallied for Vang Pao's release, holding portraits of the former general and waving signs saying "Honor your war heroes – don't jail them" and "Free our leader." "He is to us like George Washington is to American citizens," Vang Zang, a Hmong leader from Minnesota was quoted as saying to the crowd by the . "The government has wrongly accused our father. But the moment he is released, he will go up ten times in popularity." Vang Pao led a covert Hmong army backed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency during the , or the "Secret War", which paralleled the U.S. fight against communism in Vietnam and the .
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circa 1962 to circa 1964. Vang Pao, the Hmong
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Vientiane
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Sacramento
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Royal Lao Army
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Sacramento Bee
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Laotian Civil War
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Vietnam War