On 6 March 1970, the Pathet Lao took advantage of the battlefield situation—which included the onset of nonflying weather—to offer the Royal Lao Government (RLG) a five-point peace plan to settle the war to their satisfaction. That same day, on the far side of the world, President Nixon misinformed the American public by denying that any Americans had been killed in Laos.Ahern, p. 335 note 42. The next day, the RLG publicly countered the Pathet Lao with their own public three point proposal based on PAVN withdrawal from Laos. Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, who was a Neutralist, used private channels to let it be known the RLG would halt their military operations against the Ho Chi Minh Trail if the communists agreed to a ceasefire in northern Laos. However, no ceasefire eventuated.
