Buenos Aires (VNA) – The Con Dao Islands were featured in Clarin – Argentina’s newspaper – as a compelling destination in Vietnam, despite their dark days in the past.
According to the article, lying in the southeast waters, Con Dao is striving to develop tourism, capitalising on unspoiled beaches, primeval forests and historical values.
During past wars, eight prisons were built across 52km of Con Son Island – the biggest of the archipelago. The cells were closed in 1975 when the resistance two wars against French and American forces ended, before opening to the public as a museum on war crimes in the 1990s.
Between 1862 and 1975, 200,000 Vietnamese, mainly patriots, were imprisoned and tortured, and around 20,000 of them died.
The once horrific place is now peaceful and welcomes some 50,000 tourists every year.-VNA