1958-1960: CIA and State Department Interfere in Politics in Laos

In Laos, the CIA and State Department rig elections and sponsor coups at least three times between the years of 1958 and 1960 in order to keep the leftist Pathet Lao party from being included in the country’s government and to ensure that the government does not adopt a neutralist policy towards communism. US objectives in the country are carried out by a secret army (Armee Clandestine) created by the CIA. The army consists of Meo hill tribesmen, other Laotians, Thai, Filipinos, Taiwanese, and South Koreans. These forces are “armed, equipped, fed, paid, guided, strategically and tactically, and often transported into and out of action by the United States,” according to the New York Times. US soldiers supporting operations in Laos work for CIA-front companies like Air America. Those who die are listed as casualties of the Vietnam War. [Blum, 1995]