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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian authorities on Wednesday had been investigating the alleged kidnapping and homicide of a Hmong American comic and activist who was discovered useless Monday in a wooded space of the northern metropolis of Medellín.
Prosecutors informed reporters that Tou Ger Xiong, 50, arrived in Medellín on 29 November. He went to satisfy a buddy within the metropolis on 10 December. Hours later, he known as a buddy in the US to inform him that he was kidnapped and his captors demanded a USD 2,000 ransom to free him, in line with prosecutors.
Yiri Amado Sánchez, sectional director of the Medellín prosecutor’s workplace, indicated that one other buddy of the activist reported the kidnapping for ransom — a typical prevalence within the metropolis. The workplace didn’t establish the buddy by identify.
“The person was the sufferer of a kidnapping,” Sánchez mentioned, including that the alleged kidnappers didn’t accumulate the cash.
Xiong, who lived within the St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb of Woodbury, was a comic, entertainer, storyteller, and social justice activist. He talked about his Hmong heritage and immigrant expertise to forge connections with audiences throughout the nation. His household mentioned in an announcement issued by his brother, Eh Xiong, that “the ache of his loss is indescribable.”
The household mentioned Tou Ger Xiong, certainly one of 11 siblings, “devoted his life to constructing bridges throughout cultures, to giving voice to those that might not have one, and to working towards justice for all.”
To date this yr, Colombian prosecutors have documented the kidnappings of 253 folks for tried extortion.
Three American vacationers, together with Xiong, have been murdered in Colombia simply within the final month, native media reported.
Eh Xiong informed Minnesota TV stations that his brother often traveled to Colombia. He mentioned he final heard from his brother on Sunday evening when he requested him to ship USD 2,000. He informed KARE-TV that his brother mentioned he was “in a little bit of a scenario right here” however didn’t give particulars.
The brother mentioned in an e mail to The Related Press on Wednesday that he was busy working to carry his brother’s physique again to Minnesota.
The State Division press workplace mentioned in an e mail to the AP that it was offering “all applicable help” to the household however declined to supply additional particulars out of respect to the household.
Tou Ger Xiong was born in Laos in 1973. His household fled to Thailand after the communist takeover in 1975 as a result of his father had served as a captain within the US-backed Hmong military, in line with a 2020 profile of him within the St. Paul Pioneer Press. They spent 4 years in a refugee camp in Thailand earlier than resettling in St. Paul, which is house to the most important Hmong neighborhood of any metropolis within the US.
He was the valedictorian of the category of 1992 at Humboldt Excessive College and earned a bachelor’s diploma in political science from Carleton School, a prestigious liberal arts faculty in Northfield. He helped set up the annual “Hmong Minnesota Day” on the Minnesota State Truthful in 2015 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the primary arrival of Hmong refugees within the state, the place the neighborhood now numbers round 95,000, in line with US Census Division information.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter paid tribute to Xiong in a collection of tweets on Wednesday, saying he was “too lively to be snatched away so immediately.”
“He was one of many funniest and most honest folks I’ve ever met.” Carter mentioned. “A neighborhood chief, achieved storyteller & comic, the primary Hmong rapper, and an absolute karaoke grasp in any style of music. His mild enlivened everybody round him. … Should you ever noticed a man dancing at certainly one of my marketing campaign occasions sporting a James Brown (or Elvis) costume & a everlasting chortle, you’ve met Tou Ger.”
Former Minnesota state Sen. Mee Moua, a household buddy and the primary Hmong American girl elected to any state legislature within the U.S., mentioned Xiong helped Hmong Individuals see themselves as “gifted, artistic, and superb beings” and constructed bridges to different communities.
“At present the Hmong diaspora all over the world, whether or not in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China, France, Australia, Canada, South America, and the US, have misplaced a certainly one of a sort modern-day hero,” Moua mentioned in an announcement Tuesday. “Tou: In a time once we wanted belonging, your tales anchored our Hmong kids of their roots. Your songs and your dance invited elders to embrace the brand new with out concern of shedding their cultural id.”
His household mentioned they deliberate to create a nonprofit basis in his identify as a tribute to his legacy.
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BY ASTRID SUAREZ AND STEVE KARNOWSKI Related Press. Karnowski reported from Minneapolis.
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