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 
 
 
¶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