If John McAfee’s life on the lam were a Hollywood movie, this would not be the scene in which you’d want to get up and break for the bathroom.
The antivirus-software pioneer, wanted for murder in his adopted home country of Belize after his neighbor Gregory Faull was found dead in mid-November, was picked up by a Guatemalan special task force last night and brought to a jail to be held for questioning.
“They’re trying to arrest me for coming into the country illegally,” McAfee told Vice in a piece of footage the publication put on YouTube. McAfee added that he thinks the move was made simply to keep him from delivering a highly anticipated Thursday press conference.
McAfee’s grandest concern throughout the arrest was whether or not Guatemalan officials could rightfully deport him back to Belize, where he’d almost surely have to face a tough line of questions pertaining to the murder. The 67-year-old took comfort when his attorney, Guatemalan legal legend Telésforo Guerra, said that couldn’t happen, but in actuality, it might.
“Any citizen of any country must be expelled if they enter Guatemala illegally,” Francisco Cuevas, a spokesman for the Guatemalan president, told CNN. “This is what has occurred at this time. Because of this, he is in the custody of immigration, so they can conclude the administrative process, and then he will be expelled from the country.”
McAfee is currently being held at a jail in Guatemala City, one that he attests is “vastly superior to Belize jails.
“I asked for a computer and one magically appeared,” he wrote. “The coffee is also excellent.”
The man kept his many followers updated via a series of blog posts throughout the night. He’s alluded to inquiring with the American Embassy about returning to the United States, receiving a stay order from a Guatemalan judge that helps him avoid getting deported to Belize until “a higher judge can review the case,” and not being able to sleep on account of stress.
Photo via Vice/YouTube
