The Spy Who Loved Us_ The Vietnam War and Pham Xuan An's Dangerous Game ( PDFDrive )

258 THOMAS A. BASS
to toast the happy couple, the guests stand up and wobble onto
their motorbikes before heading into the crush of Saigon traffic.
As Vietnam whirls from Communism to consumerism, the
Virgin Mary in front of Saigon’s red-brick cathedral offers a
sign of discontent. She graces a small oval park planted with
flowers, which is a favorite spot for the city’s brides to have
their pictures taken. Lately, this scenic park has been drawing
a different sort of crowd. Hundreds of visitors have started
coming to see the strange events of the day. The Virgin Mary is
crying. People have seen tears streaming down her cheeks. If
you doubt it, the city’s paparazzi will press in your hands photos
which show quite clearly the tears welled up in her eyes and
their glistening tracks down her face. Surrounded by brides in
white tulle and curious crowds, the photographers are doing a
brisk business.
At the urging of the Communist Party’s Central Committee,
the bishop has declared that the Virgin’s tears are a natural phenomenon
resulting from excessive rainwater and last season’s
strenuous monsoons. No one believes him. The Virgin is crying
because she is sad. She feels the people’s pain. She sees the
growing disparity in Vietnam between rich and poor, the mounting
corruption and venality. She sympathizes with the farmers
who were forced to kill their chickens after an outbreak of bird
flu. She supports the laborers in the Nike shoe factories who
have gone on strike, demanding that their Korean bosses stop
beating them and pay fair wages. She supports the country’s
garment workers, who are paid even less than the Nike shoe
workers—forty dollars a month in the cities and a mere thirty
dollars a month in the country—and who have also gone on
strike. She knows the sorrow of 9/11 and regrets that the world
is terrorizing itself with feuds that kill mainly women and children.
The Virgin’s tender embrace, her charity and forgiveness,
are no longer sufficient to heal this world out of whack.
The Madonna in the park has become a pilgrimage site for
Vietnamese from as far away as Hanoi. The bishop tries to