Viet Nam: The Cages of Con Son Island

Con Son is the largest island of an emerald archipelago 50 miles off the coast of South Viet Nam in the South China Sea. Sometimes called Poulo Con-dore after its Portuguese discoverer, the lush, Manhattan-size territory was made into a penal colony by the French in 1862 and became known as the Devil's Island of Southeast Asia, from which no one returned. But many did, including nearly all the current top leadership of North Viet Nam and several senior South Vietnamese statesmen who served time there under the French.*

Asia is not exactly...