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Laos
“If you don't come to save us, we ask
the United States and President Bush:
Please drop a bomb on us. We would
rather not be left to starve to death.”
-Jo Va, Hmong fighter
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It took BBC, filmmakers Ruhi Hamid and Misha Maltsev two
months of negotiating and three days of harsh jungle trekking to
reach the subjects of their film about Hmong rebels. An ethnic
minority in Laos, Hmong have been hunted by the Communist
state's army since they were recruited to fight for the CIA during
US covert operations in the 1970s. When Hamid got to one secret
settlement, the entire community burst into tears. “They were
weeping, showing their wounds and pleading to be saved.”
Journalists looking for the Hmong are usually arrested; Hamid and
Maltsev were the first Westerners they had seen in 28 years. The
film was later screened at the United Nations and for French and
US politicians. “I had promised them I wouldn't rest until they
could safely walk out of the jungle,” says Hamid. It won'tt be an
easy promise to keep. When 172 Hmong women
and children gave
themselves up to Laotian authorities in March 2005, they were
taken away and haven'tt been heard from since.
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