On July 20, 2023, two officials of the US State Department, Mr. Rustum Nyquist – Political Officer and Ms. Lindsey Posmanick – Foreign Affairs Officer of the East Asia Pacific Office – had a meeting with land petitioners of Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, Ho Chi Minh City, where the coercion and destruction of more than 500 local houses in 2019 caused fierce protests from the people.
Talking to RFA on the same evening, Mr. Cao Ha Truc, one of the members of the Representative Board for the land petitioners in Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, said that about a year ago, on the occasion of Press Freedom Day, he had the opportunity to meet some US consular officers. He presented to them the status of Loc Hung Vegetable Garden. That’s why they came to his house today to find out. 12 victims of Loc Hung Vegetable Garden attended the meeting. Mr. Cao Ha Truc said:
“They met us from 3.20 pm to 5.20 pm on July 20, 2023. They asked about the fact that the Loc Hung vegetable garden and local land petitioners presented the origin of the vegetable garden from 1954 to present and the event on January 8, 2019, the government blatantly destroyed without a decision. The government still said to let the people out normally, but in fact, they had four guard posts to prevent land petitioners from returning to the garden.
The consulate staff is very attentive to the thoughts and aspirations of the people in the vegetable garden. After the land petitioners submitted all, they said that what they heard showed that it was unfair to them. They said they will continue to report to the US State Department and will have a meeting with the Vietnamese government.”
On January 4 and 8, 2019, the authorities of Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City mobilized forces to bulldoze and coerce more than 500 houses in Loc Hung Vegetable Garden, despite the protests of the local people. The people who were evicted from their land said that their land was left by their parents (the French period). The city government said the enforcement was only carried out with 112 illegal builders from January 1, 2018 and the vegetable garden land under the management of the State since 1975.
The people of Loc Hung Vegetable Garden affirmed that they have a legal basis to determine the vegetable garden land under their ownership from 1954 to present. However, the local government deliberately did not grant land use rights to the villagers with the aim of “robbing” more than five hectares of land.
Mr. Truc said that he and some land petitioners of the vegetable garden had twice gone to Hanoi to submit request for establishing an inspection team, but so far there have been no results. He and land petitioners were also promised to have a meeting with the National Assembly deputies in Ho Chi Minh City, but so far the authorities have been delayed.
Mr. Cao Ha Truc added about the meeting with the US Department of State on July 20, 2023:
“They asked us what else we wanted to tell them, and I said that the people here just wanted the government to comply with the law of Vietnam. Vietnam has made commitments and relations with the United States, and also signed many conventions. Vietnam has also repeatedly tried to change the law, but only on paper, they did not actually implement it. They want the US to have a voice with the Vietnamese government to implement international conventions. They said that they want the government to have a dialogue with the people of Loc Hung vegetable garden in a constructive spirit so that they can enjoy their legitimate rights.
They said they took note of the comments and added that, even they want Vietnam and the United States to have a normal relationship through dialogue, so they also want the Vietnamese government to have a dialogue with relatives.
Radio Free Asia has contacted the US diplomatic representative to visit Loc Hung Vegetable Garden for a response but has not received a reply.
The case of coercion of vegetable garden land in Loc Hung has been criticized by the international community. A member of the European Union and the United States also mentioned this coercion when it came to human rights violations in Vietnam in 2019.
In September 2019, a delegation from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) met with representatives of the Catholic community living in Loc Hung Vegetable Garden to find out about the incident.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
