TEXT OF LETTER IN FIREBOMBING

Here is an English translation of the letter from the group calling itself the Vietnamese Party to Exterminate the Communists and Restore the Nation. It was dated Aug. 9, the day of the Garden Grove firebombing in which editor and publisher Tap Van Pham died, and was postmarked in San Jose, according to the editor of an Orange County Vietnamese-language newspaper who received it.

Declaration No. 5 Subject: Destruction of the Mai weekly editorial offices. By Declaration No. 4, dated Nov. 24, 1985, the Vietnamese Party to Exterminate the Communists and Restore the Nation had clearly emphasized the punishment of all those who are giving assistance to the Vietnamese Communists, without any forewarning.

(Despite) this warning, Mai weekly, Issue No. 228, dated July 31, 1987, advertised three overseas Vietnamese communist establishments, Laser Express, Vinamedic, and QTK Express, addresses at 1444 to 1450 Beaudry, Montreal, Canada, (which) were targeted (by arson) on Saturday, Nov. 23, 1985, as stated in Declaration No. 4.

Due to this intransigent attitude of receiving money from the enemy by those in the Mai weekly, and in order to carry out the (previous) warning, the Vietnamese Party to Exterminate the Communists and Restore the Nation decided to destroy the editorial offices of the Mai weekly at 10708 Westminster Ave., Garden Grove, California. The members of the party realized their decision at 3 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, 1987.

In order to be together with the resistance fighter inside Vietnam in our earliest destruction of the common enemy of our people, here overseas, the party will continue to punish correctly the Vietnamese communists cadres and their lackeys. (That includes) those individuals and their establishments who work for the benefit of Hanoi, directly or indirectly, specifically those magazines and newspapers that carry advertisements promoting the financial plans, including the amassing of foreign currency exchange in Vietnam.

Using this opportunity, the party would like to clarify in Declaration 5 its previous actions: 1) The destruction of PEDCO financial establishment 2) The execution of Duong Trong Lam, a communist agent. 3) About the punishment applied to communist cadre Nguyen Van Luy. 4) The burning of the two Vietnamese establishments in Canada.

As strongly emphasized in Declaration No. 3, any use of the party’s name by individuals or organizations, regardless of the purpose, is considered wrong and must be stopped.