Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.latimes.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Kaysone Phomvihan; Ruled Laos Since Communist Takeover in '75 Date: Tue, 24 Nov 92 06:06:07 EST Message-ID: HEADLINE: Kaysone Phomvihan; Ruled Laos Since Communist Takeover in '75 Publication Date: Monday November 23, 1992 BYLINE: President Kaysone Phomvihan of Laos, the country's ruler since the Communist takeover in 1975, died Saturday, Laotian state radio said. He was 71. The broadcast, monitored in Bangkok, said only that Kaysone died of an illness. Kaysone had been chief of the Laotian Communist Party since 1955. He was premier from 1975 to August, 1991, when the National Assembly elected him president and endowed the post with greater power. Gen. Khamtai Siphandon succeeded him as premier. In recent years, Kaysone's administration has relaxed some controls over the economy and permitted some private enterprise, but political dissent is still not tolerated. Laos, a landlocked Southeast Asian country of 4 million people, remains one of the poorest and most isolated nations in the world. This article is copyright 1992 The Los Angeles Times Home Edition. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM