A US businessman who wrote about his experience of living through the military coup in Myanmar has been detained on his return to the southeast Asian nation, officials aware of the matter said.
Yangon-based Adam Castillo, the former head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar who now runs a security firm, was stopped at an airport in Myanmar upon his arrival in the country, one of the people aware of the situation said.
Castillo was also advising the Donald Trump administration on its policy towards Myanmar. He is reported to have advised the US to play the role of peace-broker in Myanmar’s civil war, with a view to increasing US access to the region’s rare earth mineral deposits – placing it in direct competition with China.
The US State Department has said it is aware of reports of the detention of an American citizen in Myanmar but did not have any further comment “due to privacy concerns”.
Castillo wrote a book entitled Finding Our Voice about his time spent in Myanmar during the 2021 coup and subsequent civil war in the country. He was recently abroad to promote his book.
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