BKK Post / November 28, 1998 NARCOTICS 'Speed pill' production on sharp rise Somsak Suksai Lampang The smuggling of drug precursors from Burma and Laos across the northern border into the country is on a sharp rise, according to the Chiang Mai-based Northern Narcotics Control Centre. Maethee Wongpradit of the NNCC said amphetamine precursors, mostly from China, have been smuggled into the north of Thailand, especially across the Burmese and Laotian borders, for the production of speed pills and that the problem was becoming more serious by the day. "The NNCC and other intelligence agencies know of at least 22 amphetamine production plants across the Burmese and Laotian borders and at least 12 in Thailand. The NNCC is planning to crack down on these plants," he added. "We have tried on many occasions but failed to arrest the masterminds of the narcotics trade. Some local politicians, police and army officers are also prime suspects along with some of the country's leading businessmen," Mr Maethee said. The NNCC is scheduled to set up some 139 drug suppression units next month while the Office of the Narcotics Control Board plans to establish drug suppression centres in all the country's provinces with a 134-million- baht budget. Pornthep Iamprapai of the NNCC said Chiang Rai, in particular the Thai-Lao border areas in Chiang Khong and Chiang Saen districts ranked top among popular gateways for drug smuggling into Thailand, followed by Chiang Mai and many other provinces in the upper North. From: "Marxfree" Lao ambassador lobbies Valley, U.S. for normal trade relations By Michael Doyle The Fresno Bee (Published November 28, 1998) WASHINGTON - Vang Rattanavong knows what he wants. He just doesn't know if the U. S. Congress will give it to him. Rattanavong, the new Laotian ambassador to the United States, wants Congress to approve normal trade relations with his country. Through recent trips to the San Joaquin Valley and Minnesota, with their large populations of Laotian refugees, the 50-year-old diplomat has sought allies for his mission. "We conduct now a market economy," Rattanavong said. "We open many sectors of our economy to competition. We have allowed foreign investors to invest very liberally in Laos." Rattanavong recently made his pitch to Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson, and before that to officials in Minneapolis. His country of 5 million people, he says, is ripe for investment by the likes of U. S. fertilizer companies. But Rattanavong's free-market arguments are running up against ideological opposition from refugees living in the Central Valley and elsewhere. And so far, the opponents are holding the upper hand in Congress, with arguments that the Lao People's Democratic Republic can't be trusted. "They have to do what they say, and not be hiding," said Kai Moua of the Merced office of Lao Family Community. "They're lying to people for so long, the government of the United States should look at them and monitor them closely." The Lao Family Community is affiliated with former Gen. Vang Pao, a leader in the Hmong community who allied himself with the United States during the Vietnam War. With 50,000 or more Hmong, Mien and Lao refugees now living in the Central Valley, and with barriers still impeding widespread political participation, the Lao Family Community voices are often the ones most commonly heard on Laotian issues. Consequently, lawmakers including Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, have so far resisted granting Laos the same low-tariff trading rights granted most every other country. Radanovich and others cite allegations of human rights abuses against the Hmong. "We don't want to see normal trading relations with Laos until some of those outstanding issues are resolved," said Radanovich's chief of staff, John McCammon. "The refugee leaders have been pretty consistent in their communication with us." The State Department, in its annual human rights report, says the Lao government is authoritarian and harsh, but that the mountain-abiding Hmong have not suffered systematic abuse or discrimination. Other lawmakers - including some who also have been lobbied hard by the Hmong activists - contend that expanding trading relationships are the best way to deal with any country. "We advance the interest of human rights and religious freedom by a policy of economic engagement," said Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford. "Obviously, there's varying degrees of animosity toward the Lao government because of the treatment the Hmong suffered, but the real decision is how does this country have the greatest impact on the policies of Laos." Legislation to grant Laos trading rights, formerly called most-favored-nation status, died in the last Congress and likely will be reintroduced next year. Rattanavong, formerly the Laotian ambassador to Australia, attributed congressional resistance to Laos entirely to the power of Vang Pao and his allies. "He is very anti-Lao government, and he is trying to prevent relations from developing," Rattanavong said. "They are small, but they know many people from the high ranks of the United States." Although Rattanavong has served in the Laotian diplomatic corps since the late 1970s, there are still things about American politics he's yet to learn. So far, for instance, Laos remains one of the countries that's unrepresented by U. S. lobbyists. Neither has the country benefited, as others like China have, by the pro- trade lobbying of U. S. companies. In his otherwise amiable conversations, Rattanavong occasionally reveals some fundamental differences separating Laos from the United States. For instance, he defended his government's arrest of protesters earlier this year. "They violated the rule of law," Rattanavong said of the protesters. "They organized a gathering without permission. "