the Prince. Even the chief of the veterinary service for the SFChronicle MAR 24 197i province is married to one of his nieces. National Assembly depu- What the CIA Is Doing ties for .Southern are hand-picked by Boun Oum and include both family mem- bers and wealthy business- In South Laos Provinces men who enjoy the family's patronage. Sedone province is typical: the four-man dele- By D. Gareth Porter gation is led by Boun Oum's Chronicle Foreign Service brother, who was once vice , Laos New Pre- rial president of the Assembly, It has become apparent and includes two of the rich- that the Central Intelli- est businessmen in Laos. gence Agency is taking ad- PROFITS vantage of its traditionally Although Boun Oum's pow- close relationship wit h For Medina er has not been based on a right-wing Prince Boun commercial empire, it has Oum, the modern-day feu- Ft. PMcPherson, Ga. facilitated his accumulation dal lord of Southern Laos, The initial pre-trial hearing of substantial commercial in- to carry on clandestine op- terests, apart from his air- erations in that part of the in another of a series of pre- liminary hearings for Cap- line and the profits from kingdom. buildings rented to Ameri- The Champassak f am ily tain Ernest L. Medina will be May 24, the Army announced cans in . These in- which Boun Oum heads, and clude cement and pig iron not the yesterday. Medina. who was Lieuten- factories in Thakkek, a tin government in Vientiane, mine which accounts for per- wields power in the southern ant William L. Calley Jr.'s commandvng officer at My haps one fourth of the coun- provinces, and the Prince is try's total production, saw more than happy to accomo- Lai during the 1968 Americal Division raid on the village, mills in Sedone and Savan- date the CIA's needs. In re- nakhet, and substantial for- turn for the freedom to carry is charged with premeditated murder of 102 unidentified ests and agricultural land. on their activities, the CIA is No one claims to know how paying Boun Oum , a regular Vietnamese and assault with dangerous weapon. wealthy Boun Ourn is, but compensation of u n known these commercial ventures The pre-trial hearings are size. constitute only a part of his As part of the arrangement held under provisions of the Uniform Code of Mi lit a r y income, which also includes the CIA chartered airline. tribute from the many offi- Justice. They are necessary Air America, several years cials who owe their jobs to before any recommendation ago donated a small fleet of his sponsorship, as well as can be made as to whether aircraft. including both Da- income from his relationship Medina will be tried. I the failure of Boun Oum's kotas and helicopters, to the with the Americans. Several hearings for Medi- right-wing forces to defeat Prince. according' to authori- The most spectacular sym- na were held last year after the neutralist Pathet-Lao al- tative sources here. The CIA bol of Boun Oum's dynasty in he was charged in the spring, lies, he had to settle for a has, used the planes in South- Southern Laos is the enor- but the Army asked for new j vice premiership and the ti- ern Laos under the cover of mous palace now being con- hearings to examine certain tie of "inspector general of the name "Boun Oum Air- structed in Pakse, at a cost unspecified new evidence. the kingdom." Nevertheless lines." In return Boun Oum estimated by one of his as- ! Boun Oum's close links with has received a substantial in- sistants at $800,000.000. The Associated Press the CIA have remained in- come for "leasing" the air- palace, a blend of Lao and. ' tact, as has his tight control craft to Air America. French colonial architecture, over Southern Laos. FLIGHTS was begun two years ago and The aircraft have been Military leadership in is not expected to be com- used primarily to fly from Southern Laos, for example, pleted for two more years. Pakse and other towns in is a Champassak family pre- Dispatch News International Southern Laos is the training rogative, which is shared bases in the region. accord- only partially with the. power- ing to these sources. Late ful Insisiengmay family to last year it was revealed that which Boun Oum is linked one of the CIA operations in through his wife. Generals in Southern Laos i the training both third and fourth mili- of 1500 Cambodian soldiers, tary regions are related to in order to evade Congres- the Champassaks by mar- sional restrictions on United riage. as is the deputy com- States operations in Cam- mander for the third region. bodia. The civil government in Boun Oum is indebted to Southern Laos is also essen- both France and the United tially a family affair. Prov- States for support in his past ince governments are laced bids for national power in the In 1960, the United States with officials related to Boun foreign-manipulated politics through the CIA, supported Oum either directly or of Laos. The French named the right-wing army of Gen- through marriage. For ex- him vice regent of the king- eral Nosavan based in South- ample; the governor of Se- dom in 1947, making him the ern Laos which marched done province, centered in second-ranking figure behind north and drove the neutral- Pakse, is a half-brother of the king. In 1948, he formed a ist government from Vienti- government with French sup- ane. Boun Oum was named port and signed an agree- prime minister of the new ment with France in 1949 pro-U.S. , government, which preserving a predominant then received U.S. arms and French role in Laos. advisers in its civil war against neutralist and Path- et Lao forces. FAILURE After the Geneva settle- ment of 1962, which followed