Bill Richardson, globe-trotting US diplomat, brilliant negotiator and former New Mexico governor, dies at 75
Bill Richardson
Bill Richardson, a former United States diplomat, New Mexico ex-governor, and a prominent figure in American politics passed away at the age of 75, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement said on Saturday (September 2). He was most known for making his mark on the world stage as a negotiator by securing the release of Americans and others held by various autocratic governments.
About his death
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which he founded and led, said that he died in his sleep at his summer home in Chatham, Massachusetts.
“He lived his entire life in the service of others — including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad,” said vice president of the Richardson Center Mickey Bergman, in a statement.
He added, “The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend.”
Career at home and abroad
Richardson was said to be one of the highest-profile Latinos in American politics and was the first Latino to run for the US presidency but eventually backed Barack Obama’s bid in 2007.
He made his name as the “Indiana Jones” of US diplomacy for his daring head-to-head encounters with leaders of countries that America perceived as a threat, including Iraq’s late president Saddam Hussein, Cuba’s late leader Fidel Castro, and Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.
Richardson served from 1982 to 1996 as a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives, US ambassador to the United Nations and energy secretary, both under former President Bill Clinton.
Richardson was also elected as the governor of New Mexico and served between 2003 and 2011.
More recently, he was involved in efforts that led to the release of American basketball player Brittney Griner in December from a Russian prison after she was convicted of a drug offence.
Richardson was known for using his deft negotiating skills and personal warmth to act both as a formal representative of the US and later as a freelance troubleshooter on private humanitarian missions which secured the release of several Americans stuck overseas including North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, Iraq, Iran and Cuba.
However, his work with authoritarian figures sometimes landed him in hot water with critics and rights activists who accused him of offering legitimacy to unsavoury regimes. “I don’t legitimize governments…I’m just one person that is trying to make a difference,” he once told AFP.
Early life
The son of a Mexican mother and an American father, born on November 15, 1947, in Pasadena, California, William Blaine Richardson spent his youth in Mexico City, where his bank executive father headed Citibank and his mother worked as a bank secretary.
He later attended a prep school in the state of Massachusetts where was a star baseball player. Richardson graduated from Tufts University with a degree in international relations and later earned a master’s degree in international affairs.
(With inputs from agencies)
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