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“We have not been successful in finding them at this point, but we are pursuing the issue and working with Laotian officials,” Ambassador Ravic R. Huso said during a tour of The International Marketplace, a cluster of Hmong shops just north of the state Capitol.
Last August, the families of Hakit Yang, Conghineng Yang and Trillion Yunhaison reported that the men had gone missing after traveling to Laos to sight-see and pursue business opportunities. Hmong advocacy groups claimed the men were arrested by Laotian military and security forces, though the government of Laos has denied that allegation.
Huso, appointed by President Bush eight months ago, traveled to St. Paul to meet with refugees who have made St. Paul one of the largest Hmong enclaves in the United States. As many as 60,000 Hmong, many of whom fled Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, have built lives here while remaining closely tied to their homeland.
U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Democrat who represents thousands of Hmong in her St. Paul district, accompanied Huso on his tour of the marketplace and said she, too, had little information about the whereabouts of the missing men.
Huso’s visit also comes just a month after the U.N. refugee agency said it was concerned about reports that Thailand had sent about a dozen Hmong back to Laos involuntarily from a refugee camp holding nearly 8,000 Hmong. Most Hmong fear they would be mistreated by the communist Lao government if they returned.
The Thai government has said the 12 volunteered to return as a gesture of goodwill toward the Lao government prior to a visit by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
Huso said he had no reason to believe “anything untoward” has happened to the refugees and that the Lao government “has indicated that their whereabouts will become known.”
Philip Smith, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates for democracy in Laos, said Huso has failed to pressure the Lao government on the St. Paul men’s disappearance as well as the alleged forced repatriation of the 12 Hmong from Thailand. That bodes ill for others in the Thai camp who could be returned to Laos, he said.
“The fate of the 8,000 Hmong refugees will largely hinge on the Bush administration and Ambassador Huso,” he said.
Huso said his broader challenge is to encourage Laos to open its political and economic systems and broaden its respect human rights. For McCollum, the thriving Hmong community in her district is already contributing to that effort.
“The fact that the (Hmong) diaspora is so vibrant creates pressure for change,” she said.
