Myanmar detains U.S. businessman who wrote about the 2021 coup: report
An American consultant and author of a memoir on Myanmar's 2021 coup is being detained in the country, two sources close to the case told
An American consultant and author of a memoir on Myanmar's 2021 coup is being detained in the country, two sources close to the case told AFP on Saturday (June 13, 2026). Security consultancy founder Adam Castillo recently printed a book detailing his work in the business community through Myanmar's military putsch, which saw much of the foreign community quit the country. Castillo — a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar — posted on his LinkedIn social media profile this week saying he was concluding an international promotional book tour in Malaysia. A Yangon police source said Mr. Castillo was detained as he returned to Myanmar on Thursday (June 11, 2026) over a lawsuit brought by the current director of a business organisation he once headed.
It was not clear whether the organisation was the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar, which could not immediately be reached for comment. The police source, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to share information, said Mr. Castillo was accused of breach of trust over a property, a crime punishable by up to a decade in prison. "The current group director filed a lawsuit against him related to their organisation affairs," he said. "That's why he was detained at the airport." A court remanded Mr. Castillo in custody for two weeks on Friday (June 12, 2026), he added. A separate source with knowledge of the case, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Mr. Castillo's detention but could not provide any further details.
A spokesman for Castillo's security firm AGS Myanmar declined to comment on the case when contacted by phone, and the U.S. State Department has not responded to a request for comment. Myanmar's 2021 military coup deposed and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sparked an uprising of pro-democracy protests and tipped the country into civil war. Since then some countries have treated Myanmar's leaders as pariahs, enforcing wide-ranging trade controls. Castillo's book details his work on Myanmar including "confronting the White House on failed sanctions policy", according to a sales blurb. It is titled "Finding Our Voice: A Story of Leadership in Crisis and the American Spirit Abroad". "As diplomats fled, Castillo stayed, dodging bullets while evacuating employees and transforming a dying chamber of commerce into a thriving community," says the sales blurb.
Myanmar was ruled by a military junta for five years following the coup. Military-run elections concluding this year were tightly controlled, excluding Suu Kyi's party and returning a walkover win for pro-military parliamentarians. Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing was voted in as Civilian President, in a transition which many democracy watchdogs dismissed as a civilian rebranding of military rule. Many analysts say the new administration has used the transition as a way to reform its reputation abroad.
The BriefWire