After nearly a month of hiding, McAfee anti-virus software creator John McAfee has been arrested in Guatemala. McAfee, who is wanted for questioning in the murder of his neighbor in Belize, surfaced in Guatemala City on Tuesday and was detained Wednesday for entering the country illegally.
The 67-year-old was seeking asylum in Guatemala, claiming he was persecuted by Belize authorities because he refused to give monetary donations to politicians. He also claims to have information about government corruption in the nation. Although McAfee’s lawyer in Guatemala argued that his client’s life would be in danger if he returned to Belize, the Foreign Ministry denied McAfee’s request for asylum.
Authorities in Belize say they do not have a warrant for McAfee’s arrest; they simply want to speak with him about the shooting death of his neighbor Gregory Faull. An unidentified suspect is already in custody for Faull’s murder. Faull, an American builder, was found dead in his home on November 10 by his housekeeper, Laura Tun. Faull had recently complained to police about McAfee firing guns and keeping at least 6 noisy dogs on his property.
McAfee hid from police after Faull’s murder, but reached out to tech news site Wired to proclaim his innocence. He even speculated that the killer was actually going after him and not Faull. “I thought maybe they were coming for me. They mistook him for me. They got the wrong house,” he said. “He’s dead. They killed him. It spooked me out.”
“Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country,” he told Wired. “You can say I’m paranoid about it but they will kill me, there is no question. They’ve been trying to get me for months. They want to silence me. I am not well liked by the prime minister. I am just a thorn in everybody’s side.”
McAfee has been in Belize since 2008. He was working on launching an herbal antibiotics company.
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