Undercover Armies - CIA FOIA - Central Intelligence Agency

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C05,303949
Chapter One
an essentially unilateral CIA move
to make Laotian politics more inclusive.
It soon led to contact with one
of the few Hmong officers in FAR, a
French-trained captain named Yang
Pao. Methven remembered making
a goodwill gesture of US Army surplus
sweaters and blankets, 5,000 of
each, obtained fromI
I Iand dropped by Air
America at Yang Pao's sector headquarters
at Nong Het, on the border
with North Vietnam. D
33
The Kong Le MutinyD
'-----------------------'
The Yang Pao contact had had no
time to mature when a new crisis shattered the government so recently cobbled
together. On 9 August 1960, the 26-year-old commander of the elite 2 nd
Parachute Battalion, Capt. Kong Le, staged a mutiny that quickly grew into a
full-fledged coup d'etat. The Lao concealed their planning froml
paramilitary adviser, to whom the rebellion looked like the result of exhaustingly
frequent deployment and niggardly material support. 0
34
But Kong Le now set out a larger set of grievances. These included not only
the familiar theme of corrupt government by a privileged class but also resentment
at a heavy American hand in Laos and dismay at the internecine conflict
between the RLG and the Pathet Lao. 35 D
Kong Le, in uncontested control of Vientiane, demanded the government's
resignation, and on 14 August Tiao Somsanith obliged him. Only the defense
minister, Gen. Phoumi Nosavan, refused to accept the government's dissolution.
He then began lobbying for US aid to help him crush the rebellion; first
from Bangkok, where he took refuge after the coup, and then from his base in
the Laotian panhandle at Savannakhet.36D
At this point, Phoumi had no more legitimate claim to power than did Kong
Le. Washington shrank from military action against a group of mutineers
I
I
33 Methven interview.O
34 Ibid. The White House understood Kong Le's complaints to include two months of arrears in
the unit's pay. (John S.D. Eisenhower, "Synopsis of State and Intelligence Material Reported to
the President,"15 August 1960, FRUS1958-1960, 793.)0
35 Methven interview.C]
36 State Telegram 172 to Bangkok, 15 August 1960, FRUS 1958-:-1960, 794-95 and passimD
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