Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06HOCHIMINHCITY1028
2006-09-08 11:09:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Ho Chi Minh City
Cable title:  

REPORT FROM THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: OBSERVATIONS ON ETHNIC

Tags:  PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM 
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VZCZCXRO4932
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHHM #1028/01 2511109
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081109Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1434
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 1009
RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0010
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 1503
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001028 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: REPORT FROM THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: OBSERVATIONS ON ETHNIC
MINORITY INTERVIEWS

REF: HCMC 599; B) HCMC 395; C) HCMC 29; D) 05 HCMC 1217

HO CHI MIN 00001028 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 001028

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PGOV KIRF PREF VM
SUBJECT: REPORT FROM THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: OBSERVATIONS ON ETHNIC
MINORITY INTERVIEWS

REF: HCMC 599; B) HCMC 395; C) HCMC 29; D) 05 HCMC 1217

HO CHI MIN 00001028 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary: Interviews in HCMC with thirteen ethnic
minority families from Gia Lai seeking to join family members in
the U.S. revealed no pattern of discrimination or harassment.
Interviews suggested continued incremental improvement in living
conditions and religious freedom in Gia Lai, although
authorities maintain a heavy police presence in at least some
villages. The interviews also called into question the claims
of persecution provided by some "anchors" already in the US in
their applications for refugee status. Other beneficiaries
seemed to be affiliated with the ethnic minority "Dega
movement," whose goal is the creation of a separate or
autonomous ethnic minority entity in the Central Highlands. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) On August 29-31, ConGenoffs met in private with
thirteen VISAS-93 applicants and their families in HCMC.
(Sixteen VISAS-93 interviews were scheduled, but three sets of
applicants failed to show.) The applicants were all ethnic
Jarai, with the exception of one ethnic Banar family. All were
from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. As with past
interviews (reftels),applicants were assured of the
confidentiality of their answers.

SIPDIS

Conditions in the Villages
--------------


3. (SBU) All but two of the families reported that their
villages and homes are connected to the electric grid. All were
farmers. Some had significant land holdings -- upwards of 15
acres -- although most had modest farms of one half to two
acres. One beneficiary reported that her family had no land.
The great majority of the adult beneficiaries were uneducated or
had received very minimal schooling. Most of the applicants
said their children were enrolled in school. However, among
those who claimed to be in school, very few spoke or understood
Vietnamese; some could not express their age or grade. At least
three families had school-age children who were not enrolled in

school.


4. (SBU) Roughly half of the applicants acknowledged receiving
at least some standard assistance from the government, such as
rice, salt or cooking oil. One applicant reported that the
government is in the process of building houses in the village
for members of the ethnic minority community, but not for her
family. Some applicants said that their families were above the
local income threshold to receive government aid (presumably
because of family remittances from the U.S.).


5. (SBU) The ethnic makeup of villages, government and local
police varied. Some reported that their villages were
homogeneous ethnic minority, although local government officials
were ethnic Vietnamese. Other villages were ethnically mixed
with some ethnic minority representation among local government
and police officials. It appeared that the two families whose
villages did not have electricity also did not have indoor
plumbing and were lived in ethnically segregated villages.


6. (SBU) Three of the 13 families reported a heavy police
presence in their hamlets. None of the families reported any
recent police harassment. All families had been visited by
police immediately after their spouses fled to Cambodia. Some
applicants reported that they had been visited by police a
handful of times within a few months of their spouse's cross
border flight; they were questioned about the petitioner's
whereabouts and why he or she left. Two applicants reported
that they were detained by police for fifteen and eight days
respectively because they tried to "leave to find their spouse."
Neither reported any physical abuse while in detention.

Contact with Family in the United States
--------------


7. (SBU) All the applicants said they receive remittances from
their spouses in the United States. None of the families
reported interference or harassment from local authorities in
receiving the money. A few reported monthly remittances ranging
from USD 100 to 300. Others claimed to receive remittances
sporadically, ranging from USD 100 to 600 at a time. Some
applicants traveled to the closest bank to receive the funds,
others had the funds delivered by courier from Pleiku, the
provincial capital.


8. (SBU) All the applicants noted that they spoke regularly with
family in the United States. Some used their own phones, some
cell phones of other family members. Neither they, nor their
relatives, faced police harassment or questioning after making
these calls. Frequency of telephonic contact varied from
biweekly to bimonthly. Many of the applicants told us that they

HO CHI MIN 00001028 002.2 OF 002


had spoken with their families in the United States immediately
prior to their interviews with Consulate staff in HCMC.


9. (SBU) None of the applicants had to seek permission to travel
to HCMC for their prescreening and DHS interviews. None
reported police harassment or official obstruction with the
passport application process or in obtaining civil documents.
They said they did not have to pay bribes to receive or process
their documents.


10. (SBU) Most applicants said that conditions for religious
practice had improved in Gia Lai; all those affiliated with the
Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) were able to
practice in groups in homes or to gather in village meeting
points. Two applicants who claimed affiliation with the "Dega
Protestant Church" said that they were not allowed to gather,
but SECV members in the village faced no restriction.

Some Questionable Stories
--------------


11. (SBU) In some cases, there appears to be significant
inconsistencies between the accounts petitioners had given in
Cambodia and those of the beneficiaries in Vietnam. For
example, one petitioner from Chu Se District in Gia Lai had told
interviewers in Cambodia that he was a tour guide who lost his
job and faced arrest because of his participation in anti-GVN
protests. He also claimed that he was prevented from practicing
his Protestant faith. His wife told us that he was a landless
woodcutter, who never was harassed or participated in protests
before his flight to Cambodia. She and her family are
practicing Catholics. Before her interview in HCMC, her husband
in the United States called her to instruct that she should
state that the "Dega religion is the truth." She told us that
this was the first time she had heard the term Dega; she did not
know what it meant. (Note: Dega refers to the ethnic minority
separatist/autonomy movement in the Central Highlands. End
Note.)


12. (SBU) A second case involved a VISAS-93 refugee claim that
family land had been confiscated by government and that the
family had been persecuted for its Protestant beliefs. In our
interview, the wife noted that their family had received two
hectares (five acres) of rubber plantation from the government.
She also said that the family had not been harassed by
authorities prior to her husband's flight. She too was
instructed by her husband to say that she belonged to the "Dega
Church" in a phone conversation immediately before her
interview.


13. (SBU) A few cases appeared to have more credible claims of
participation in the Dega movement. One interviewee supported
her husband's claims Cambodia to have been a local associate of
Kok Ksor (President of the South Carolina-based Montagnard
Foundation). The husband had claimed that he had been under
police threat after he helped organize anti-GVN protests. The
interviewee said that she was a member of the Dega church.
However, after he husband's flight to Cambodia she had not been
harassed by police and had been able to communicate with her
husband and receive money from him regularly. In another case,
the wife confirmed her husband's claim that he had participated
in anti-GVN protests in April 2004 and that both she and he
subsequently faced possible arrest. She said her husband was
affiliated with the "Dega Protestant Church," but had no
specific awareness of the religious tenets of the Church.


14. (SBU) Comment: The responses of the thirteen families
interviewed reinforce our previous findings that very few
VISAS-93 applicants face significant harassment. (One applicant
noted that she would be sad to leave Vietnam, but had to follow
her husband.) As in previous rounds of interviews, there were
inconsistencies between the applicants' responses and statements
that had been made by petitioners during the refugee-seeking
process. Some interviewees acknowledged being coached by their
husbands in the United States prior to their interviews by
ConGen staff. Our interviews suggest that at least some of the
anchors had not faced a specific threat of persecution or
prosecution in Vietnam and had embellished their stories for the
purpose of immigrating to the United States. However, others
did appear to be affiliated with the ethnic minority "Dega
movement," whose goal appears to be the creation of a separate
ethnic minority entity in the Central Highlands. These
individuals would be potential targets for Vietnamese security
authorities because of their political and separatist
activities, not their religious beliefs. End Comment.
Winnick