Supporting the Maoists in Nepal?

Jeroen

Just something I was wondering about after the recent troubles in Nepal which has lead to many dead...
I hear that tourists doing the main trek in Nepal are required to pay a $10 'fee' to the Maoists (for which they apparently even get a receipt)... I'm just wondering if there's just blind complacency among trekkers, or if there are people who urge you to skip the trek to avoid giving cash to this bunch of nutters - after all you can be sure you're directly contributing to guns and deaths, no?
There's a healthy discussion about the do/don't go go to Myanmar dilemma, but I haven't heard much about this yet.

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