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Article: Peasants riot over corruption in Vietnam, officials move to make amends.(Originated from Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- February 19, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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QUYNH HOA, Vietnam _ Peasants whose prolonged protests last year shook Vietnam's ruling Communist Party were allowed to tell foreign journalists for the first time Thursday why they took such extraordinary risks and the reasons tensions linger.
``We asked for changes for months and months, and when they did not come, we had to act,'' said one woman in troubled Thai Binh Province, who did not want her name used.
Poor farmers like herself turned over much of their precious rice crop to a fund to pay for new roads, the woman said, only to see local party cadres embezzle the money to enlarge their houses and acquire Japanese motorcycles and television ...