Soth Phetrasy (1915–2004) was a leading official of the

Pathet Lao The Pathet Lao ( lo, ປະເທດລາວ, translit=Pa thēt Lāo, translation=Lao Nation), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The gro ...

, the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

guerrilla movement of

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

associated with the

Lao People's Party The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The party's monopoly on state power is guaranteed by Article 3 of the Constitution of Laos, and it maintains a unitary ...

, during the 1960s and 1970s.

Biography

Soth Phetrasy was born in 1915. Phetrasy was an important figure to the

(Land of Lao) as he became spokesman for them in Vientiane from 1964. He became increasingly known as he tried to negotiate

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

's between the United States and also matters such as

Eugene DeBruin Eugene Henry DeBruin (April 1, 1933 – c. 1968) was a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, and a member of Air America serving in Laos during the Second Indochina War. DeBruin was working as a "kicker" for Air America in 1963 when his C-46 was s ...

, and as diplomat of the Pathet Lao preparing the 1973 Vientiane Agreement. Phetrasy was a minister in the third and final leftist and royalist coalition government of Laos from 1973 to 1975, serving as Minister for Economy and Planning under

Souvanna Phouma Prince Souvanna Phouma (; 7 October 1901 – 10 January 1984) was the leader of the neutralist faction and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Laos several times (1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960, and 1962–1975). Early life Souvanna Phouma was the s ...

. He was the managing director of

Bank of the Lao P.D.R. Bank of the Lao P.D.R., located in Vientiane, is the central bank of Laos. It is also the bank of last resort, controlling the money supply, managing the country's reserves, and supervising the commercial banks operating in Laos. The bank is ma ...

from 1980 to 1983. He later became the ambassador of Laos to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. His son, Sousath, owner of the Mali Guest House in Phonsavan in Northern Laos, died, on 25 September 2009. Phetrasy died in

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

in 2004.

Biography

Footnotes

See also