Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson released Danny Fenster on Monday from a Myanmar prison. This was Richardson’s latest achievement in his long history dealing with dictators.

The U.S.-diplomat-turned-freelance-fixer, who celebrated this 74th birthday on Monday, posted a photo on Twitter (NYSE:) that showed him with his arm around Fenster at the bottom of the steps of a jet that flew them out of the country.

The release, which brought relief to Fenster’s family in Detroit and was welcomed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, came after Richardson met this month with Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, one of the only foreigners to do so since he seized power in February.

Richardson’s earlier visit drew criticism from activists who accused Richardson of giving legitimacy to the junta, an accusation that is familiar in Richardson’s more than a quarter century-long history of criticizing foreign leaders.

“Know What Makes Them Tick”

Richardson started his career as a hostage negotiator in 1994. Richardson was then a U.S. House of Representatives member and traveled to North Korea in order to negotiate a nuclear agreement with President Bill Clinton.

Richardson had been traveling to North Korea when a U.S. military aircraft entered the territory. One pilot was killed and one captured. The congressman stayed several weeks for negotiations.

Richardson met with Saddam Hussein shortly thereafter to negotiate the release of the two Americans who had crossed the Kuwaiti border.

“The first rule of negotiating, with me, is you’ve got to relate to your adversary personally. It is important to treat them with respect. You’ve gotta know what… makes them tick,” Richardson said on a podcast produced by Foreign Policy magazine in 2018.

“You’ve gotta let the other side save face and find some ways that they get some credit, that they’re getting something out of the negotiation, when in effect the only thing may be praise for a humanitarian gesture.”

Myanmar’s military-run television channel reported Monday that Fenster had been granted amnesty for humanitarian reasons.

Richardson was later appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Energy Secretary under Clinton before being elected Governor of New Mexico in 2002. Richardson ran unsuccessfully in 2008 for the Democratic Party nomination as president.

Richardson and his staff at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement now frequently travel on private missions, without the U.S. government’s imprimatur, at the request of the families of people kidnapped, detained or killed in countries with testy relations with Washington.

Together with Eric Schmidt from Google (NASDAQ.:) CEO Eric Schmidt, he traveled to North Korea in 2014 to demand the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary.

Otto Warmbier, a student who had been brought to America in deteriorating health in 2017, was released. Otto died not long after.

Richardson dealt with Iran’s Islamist leaders to help in the release of Xiyue Wang in 2019 and Michael White in 2020.

MYANMAR HISTORY

Richardson began his involvement in Myanmar around the mid-1990s. According to Foreign Policy, Richardson was the one who first got the generals out of prison to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to be released.

After she rose to the position of de facto leader in a civilian government, Richardson clashed later with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi. Richardson did not release the reporters.