There, they remain one of the largest sub-groups in the Miao (Chinese:苗族) minzu.
Beginning in the 18th-century, Hmong groups began a gradual mass migration to Southeast Asia for reasons both political and economic.
As a result, Hmong currently live in several countries in Southeast Asia, including northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar-Burma.
In Laos, a significant number of Hmong/Mong people fought against the communist-nationalist Pathet Lao during the Secret War.
When the Pathet Lao took over the government in 1975, Hmong/Mong people were singled out for retribution, resulting
in many fleeing to Thailand.
Thousands of these refugees were resettled in Western countries, including the United States, Australia, France,
French Guiana, and Canada.
Others were returned to Laos under United Nations-sponsored repatriation programs.
Around 8,000 Hmong/Mong refugees remain in Thailand.
Laos
The "Secret War"
Main article: Laotian Civil War
In the early 1960s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began to recruit the indigenous Hmong people in Laos to join fighting the Vietnam War, named as a Special Guerrilla Unit led by General Vang Pao. Over 80% of the Hmong men in Laos were recruited by the CIA to join fighting for the "Secret War" in Laos. The CIA used the Special Guerrilla Unit as the counter attack unit to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main military supply route from the north to the south. Hmong soldiers put their lives at risk in the frontline fighting for the United States to block the supply line and to rescue downed American pilots. As a result, the Hmong suffered a very high casualty rate; more than 40,000 Hmong were killed in the frontline, countless men were missing in action, thousands more were injured and disabled.
General Vang Pao led the Region II (MR2) defense against NVA incursion from his headquarters in Long Cheng, also known as Lima Site 20 Alternate (LS 20A).[23] At the height of its activity, Long Cheng became the second largest city in Laos, estimated at 300,000, with 200,000 ethnic Hmong and 100,000 people of other ethnic backgrounds. Long Cheng was a micro-nation operational site with its own bank, airport, school system, officials, and many other facilities and services in addition to its military units. Before the end of the Secret War, Long Cheng would fall in and out of General Vang Pao's control.
The Secret War began around the time that the U.S. became officially involved in the Vietnam War. Following the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, the Lao kingdom was overthrown by the communists and the Hmong people became targets of retaliation and persecution. While some Hmong people returned to their villages and attempted to resume life under the new regime, thousands more made the trek to and across the Mekong River into Thailand, often under attack. This marked the beginning of a mass exodus of Hmong people from Laos. Those who did make it to Thailand generally were held in squalid United Nations refugee camps. Nearly 20 years later, in the 1990s, a major international debate ensued over whether the Hmong should be returned to Laos, where opponents of their return argued they were being subjected to persecution, or afforded the right to immigrate to the U.S. and other Western nations.
those Hmong who did not flee Laos, somewhere between two and three thousand were sent to re-education camps where
political prisoners served terms of 3-5 years. Many Hmong died in these camps, after being subjected to hard physical labor and harsh conditions. Thousands more Hmong people, mainly former soldiers and their families, escaped to remote mountain
regions - particularly Phou Bia, the highest (and thus least accessible) mountain peak in Laos. Initially, some Hmong
groups staged attacks against Pathet Lao and Vietnamese troops while others remained in hiding to avoid military
retaliation and persecution. Spiritual leader Zong Zoua Her rallied his followers in a guerilla resistance movement called Chao Fa
(RPA: Cauj Fab). Initial military successes by these small bands led to military counter-attacks by government
forces, including aerial bombing and heavy artillery, as well as the use of defoliants and chemical weapons.
Small groups of Hmong people, many of them second or third generation descendants of former CIA soldiers, remain
internally displaced in remote parts of Laos, in fear of government reprisals. Faced with continuing military operations against them by the government and a scarcity of food, some groups have begun coming out of hiding, while others have sought asylum in T
hailand and other countries.
Throughout the Vietnam War, and for two decades following it, the U.S. government stated that there
was no "Secret War" in Laos and that the U.S. was not engaged in air or ground combat operations in Laos. In the late
1990s, however, several U.S. conservatives, alleging that the Clinton administration was using the denial of this covert war to justify a repatriation of Thailand-based Hmong war veterans to Laos, urged the U.S. government to acknowledge the existence of
the Secret War and to honor the Hmong and U.S. veterans from the war. On May 15, 1997, in a total reversal of U.S. policy, the U.S. government acknowledged that it had supported a prolonged air and ground campaign against the NVA and VietCong.
It simultaneously dedicated the Laos Memorial on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the Hmong and
other combat veterans from the Secret War.
Hmong Refugees in Laos:
HMONG is ME.
It's sad to learn the history of the hmong people.
We have no country, and some say we have no flag.
But the hmong people are trying to do
their best. We are a representation of us.
Honestly I have never knew about our culture,
but I recently learned about the history and
culture of HMONG.
I feel really strong about being Hmong.
I hope everyone who reads this
will know what hmong is, and support
us in our efforts to become KNOWN.
Thanks for reading.
-A P R I L
and SEAs (A-A, Daic) are largely divided into two different clusters, and almost all H-M populations grouped with the SEA cluster. All the A-A populations formed one single branch, departing from H-Ms and Daics. It was noted that MHN lies between NEAs and SEAs, being closer to SEA populations than to NEAs. 
" look. 
Posted 31 May 2008 - 08:06 PM
