0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Security was the sole justification for this program.
The following
problems quickly develooed:.
* Peasants, who were forced to leave their traditional homesteads,
found themselves in strange andi unfamiliar places.
* The Yeaction of the regrouped peasants took the form cf unanimous
protest.
* it was difficult to distinguish between genuine Viet Minn or VC
families and nationalist families.28/
After only two months of operation, Diem suspended the exper-imentation
of the agglomeration centers. The GVN was unable t,. provide adequate
security to the people, to explain sati'sfactorily the rationale for
such camps,
or to dedicate sufficient attention to the economic and social
implications of the resettlements.29/ The ill-conceived program had a
quiet passing as Nhu
taunched a new variation cn the pacification theme--
Agrovilles.
In July 1959, Diem announced that the GVN was undertaking tc
improve the rural standards of living through the escablishment of some 86
"prosperity and density centers" (Khu Tru Mat).30/ These "Agrovilles"311
were to be loca&.d along a strategic route system of key roads, proTected
by new towns. (iee Figure 5-5).. The agrovilles were to be the leading
edge of a new national security plan. The plan envibioned-
0 The regrouping of major population elements into key rural agrovilles
along the routes connecting strategically important
I
Saigon, Hue, Da Nang and Daldt,
The recruitment of more competent and dedicated local leaders for
[
village administrative Dosts.
The2 improvement of v;llage self-finance.
. The formation of d ",igorous yoJin movement (under Nhu's control)
for combating
villages.32/
The
increased Viet Cong recruitment activity in the
plan called for the resettlement of about 500,000 people.
Eighty agroviles were to be built by the end of 1963, each designed for
about 400 families (2,000 to 3,000 people), and each with a surrounding
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