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Forced Labor under the Khmer Rouge - April 1976 In less than four years, between 1.7 million and 2.5 million people died, out of a population of 8 million. Many succumbed to starvation or exhaustion. Tens of thousands were tortured and executed in places like Phnom Penh's infamous Tuol Sleng prison. The Khmer Rouge completely closed Cambodia to the outside world. But reports of atrocities trickled out of the country, sparking a debate in the United States and the West. News of mass killings and starvation seemed to vindicate those who had predicted a bloodbath once the Khmer Rouge came to power. However, some antiwar activists questioned the accuracy of these reports, claiming that they were exaggerations meant to discredit the new Communist regime. In the face of mounting evidence of Khmer Rouge atrocities, the U.S. government stayed quiet. After the debacle of the Vietnam War, few American politicians were willing to get reinvolved in Southeast Asia, and the government was not eager to examine its complex role in Cambodia's collapse. Not until April 1978 did President Jimmy Carter declare the Khmer Rouge "the worst violator of human rights in the world."

Khmer Rouge boy soldiers in Phnom Penh - April 17,1975 By then, the Khmer Rouge had less than a year left in power. Ironically, its downfall was brought on by a conflict with its former ally, Vietnam. A border dispute between Democratic Kampuchea and communist Vietnam flared into full-scale war, and in January 1979, Vietnamese forces rolled into Phnom Penh. NEXT - 1980-1991:

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photo: Pol Pot greeting Khmer Rouge Cadres

credit: Photo Courtesy Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM) photo: Forced Labor under the Khmer Rouge - April 1976

credit: Photo Courtesy AFP/Claude Juvenal photo: Khmer Rouge soldiers enter Phnom Penh - April 17,1975

credit: Photo Courtesy AFP photo: Khmer Rouge boy soldiers in Phnom Penh - April 17,1975

credit: Photo Courtesy AFP