VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST CONTROL OF THE PATHET LAO (TESTIMONY OF FORMER PATHET LAO OFFICERS)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R000500220001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: February 10, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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Sanitized = Approved For Release : CIA-RDP78-00915R000500220001-1
VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST CONTROL OF THE PATHET LAO
(Testimony of Former Pathet Lao Officers)
The whole history of the Pathet Lao movement which, is sum. -
mari.zed in the attached paper reveals the fact that the Pathet Lao are
firmly under the control of the Vietnamese Communists.
The handful of Laotian rebels who founded the Pathet Lao did so
on Vietnamese soil under Vietnamese Communist direction.. They spent
several years in. Vietnam, undergoing training and indoctrination. Their
return to Laos in 1953 was possible only as a front for the Vietnam Com-
munist troops from whom they have received all their supplies of arms
and equipment. Their failure to arouse any significant support from the
Laotian people has left them completely dependent upon the Vietnamese.
Prince Souphanouvong?s frequent absences on. trips to Hanoi indicate
clearly that he is under the. necessity of getting instructions from the Viet-
namese Communists on all important matters. In August 1956, for instance,
while the.RLG, waited impatiently for the Pathet Lao delegates to arrive
so that the mixed commissions could start their work., and while Prime
Minister Souvanna Phouma postponed his trip to France in hopes of
getting the sessions started before his departure, Souphanouvong was
in Hanoi, conferring with his Vietnamese Communist superiors.
Hanoi propaganda has repeatedly emphasized the fact that the
P th.et Lao are an integral part of the Vietnam Communist organization
and Pathet Lao actions and statements have consistei y paralleled Chinese
and Vietnamese Communist propaganda lines. For example, Pathet Lao
approaches to the RLG for the reopening of negotiations followed im-
mediately upon Peiping and Hanoi broadcasts urging this course and
suggesting the lines along which such approaches might be made--lines
which forecast exactly the Pathet Lao proposals.
to the RLG.
role played in it by the Vietnamese and have returned to their allegiance
It is thus possible, from analysis of the history of the Pathet Lao
movement, to discern clearly the control exercised over it by the
Vietnamese Communists.. There is also available more direct and
categorical evidence. Some, members of the Path.et Lao became di$-
illusioned., both with the Communist nature of the movement and with the
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Prince Souphanouvong, the nominal, head of the Pathet Lao, said
actually was unable to make any important decisions
without the approval of his Vietnamese advisers. His government was
under the immediate control. of a Vietnamese group permanently established
near the Pathet Lao capital. This group was, in turn, in radio contact
with a special Vietnamese staff for Laos which was located just across
the border in North Vietnam.
Similar liaison arrangements controlled Pathet Lao military units
with Vietnamese operated radios maintaining communications with Viet
nam military authorities. Prince Souphanouvong and his government
were frequently kept in ignorance of the messages transmitted between
the Vietnamese authorities and the Pathet Lao units, thus being deprived.
of effective control, of what were allegedly their own military forces.
Vietnamese Communist advisers were in every government office and
in effective command of all. Pathet Lao military units, although, to
lessen the resentment of Pathet Lao soldiers, this command role was
kept secret.
:1.955. He was able to describe the resentment of Pathet Lao soldiers at
being commanded by Vietnamese and the severe punishments inflicted
upon them even including, in. some cases, deportation to Vietnam.
was supervised by
a Vietnamese, whose approval was required for all decisions. The Pat?et
.Lao military command was under the control of a Vietnamese General.,
assisted by more than 150 Vietnamese advisers. Besides these there
were about ten Vietnamese Communist advisers with, each battalion.
There 'were also numerous Vietnamese advisers in the political. depart-
ments of the Pathet Lao government--almost fifty in the Ministry of
Education alone.
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The Vietnamese control was so firmly established that the Pathet
Lao leaders could not rebel against it even if they wished to. The heads
of the Pathet Lao government, according to lived in 25X1 C5b
constant fear of commando action against them by Communist Vietnamese
troops.. The slightest reluctance by Pathet Lao forces to "cooperate"
completely with the Vietnamese Communists brought down severe
punishment. Colonel Singkapo, for instance, one of the principal Pathet
Lao military leaders, was promptly sent to China for "reeducation," when
the Vietnamese suspected his loyalty.
agree that many young
Pathet Lao are held in Vietnam where they undergo training and also
serve as hostages. Among them are children and wives of some of
the chief Pathet Lao leaders. Sons of Prince Sou.phanou.vong, Ph.oum. i.
Vongvichit and Tiao Souk were being held in Russia, according to a
telegram from Moscow which was seen by Captain Kavinh.
It can scarcely be doubted, with such evidence from former mem-
bera of the Pathet Lao, that the Pathet Lao movement is firmly under
the control. of the Vietnamese Communists and that the Laotian leaders
are in fact unable to make any decisions for themselves but must accept
at all time the orders of the Vietnamese "advisers".
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