The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Souphanouvong

Born July 13, 1909, in Luang Prabang. Laotian political figure. Prince.

Souphanouvong was educated in France as a civil engineer. He was active in the anticolonial Lao Issara (Free Laos) movement. From 1945 to 1949 he commanded the Lao Issara national army. In 1950 he headed the Free Lao Front (Neo Lao Issara), and in 1956 he became head of the Patriotic Front of Laos (Neo Lao Hak Sat). Souphanouvong was a member of two coalition governments formed by Souvanna Phouma, the first in 1957, lasting until the end of 1958, and the second in 1962. In the government of national unity established by the second coalition (which fell apart in 1963–64), Souphanouvong held the posts of deputy prime minister and minister of economy and planning. He played an important role in the Vientiane Agreement on Laos, signed on Feb. 21,1973, and the protocol to the agreement, signed on Sept. 14,1973. From April 1974 to December 1975 he headed the Joint National Political Council. In December 1975 he became president of the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos and chairman of the Supreme People’s Council. Souphanouvong made several official visits to the USSR.

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References in periodicals archive

However, the memory of the internal antagonism of the Hmong re-emerged when it came to the alleged assassination of Souphanouvong's son by a so-called CIA Hmong in 1967, again a source of embarrassment for the guide) The ambiguous history of the Lao Hmong is without doubt one of the most important educational effects for many tourists.

Memory, tourism, and development: changing sociocultural configurations and upland-lowland relations in Houaphan Province, Lao PDR

Khamxay, a minister to the Prime Minister's Office and the eldest son of the first Lao president, Prince Souphanouvong, has not shown up at his office with the Business Development Committee since April, according to the Lao-language service of RFA monitored in Bangkok.

Lao minister missing for months: U.S. radio

In the meantime, in early 1949, the Lao Issara movement split (19) over the question of relations with the Viet Minh (Stuart-Fox and Kooyman 1992: 73), and based on the Viet Minh model Prince Souphanouvong (20) formed the Free Lao Front--by drawing together anti-French forces, including Faydang and his Hmong Resistance League formed in 1946 (Dommen 1971: 75)--which later became known as the Pathet Lao (PL)--to carry on the anti-French resistance (Stuart-Fox and Kooyman 1992: 46, 143).

Genesis of the Hmong-American alliance, 1949-1962: aspirations, expectations and commitments during an era of uncertainty

The Lao government permitted Khamxay Souphanouvong, a minister previously thought missing, to take unlimited leave for medical treatment and activities in Europe, a diplomat at the Lao Embassy in Bangkok said Friday.

'Missing' Lao minister allowed unlimited vacation: gov't

The Hmong ghetto in Luang Prabang, which is sandwiched between Souphanouvong University and the Luang Prabang International Airport, was not there prior to 1975, when I was a student in Luang Prabang.

A visit to the Hmong of Asia: globalization and ethnicity at the dawn of the 21st century

During the first Indochina war between France and the communist movement in Vietnam, Prince Souphanouvong formed the Pathet Lao (Land of Laos) resistance organization committed to the communist struggle against colonialism.

Laos

A scene of a Hmong ghetto in Luang Prabang, which is sandwiched between the Luang Prabang International Airport and the Souphanouvong University.

A visit to the Hmong of Asia: globalization and ethnicity at the dawn of the 21st century: photo essay by Kou Yang