©Thierry Falise

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Laos - Hmong elders exchange stories from French and American times

For years, communities of ethnic Hmong, the remnants of an army who fought for the CIA during the 1960s “Secret war”, are hiding in the Laos jungle. Under the constant repression of the Lao army, they wait for the return of their former American allies. Most of them are women and children who barely survive on wild roots

This sketch is part of a series made from memory in 2003 by Falise after Lao authorities arrested him with French colleague Vincent Reynaud and confiscated their films. The two reporters were jailed for five weeks

The suffering of the abandoned Hmong