Google - AFP, 4 December 2012
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A woman
views a Facebook page belonging to John McAfee (AFP/File, Karen Bleier)
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GUATEMALA
CITY — American Internet pioneer John McAfee, wanted for questioning over the
murder of his neighbor last month in Belize, is seeking political asylum in
Guatemala, his lawyer said Tuesday.
McAfee, 67,
amassed huge wealth as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur in the 1990s, designing
the hugely popular anti-virus software that bears his name and remains a
leading industry product to this day.
In a
plotline worthy of a Hollywood thriller, the multi-millionaire went on the run
from his home on the idyllic Belize paradise island of Ambergris Caye hours
after neighbor Gregory Faull was murdered on November 11.
With his
20-year-old girlfriend Sam Vanegas in tow, he managed to cross the border into
Guatemala over the weekend and has secured the services of star lawyer
Telesforo Guerra, a former Guatemalan attorney general.
"I
have to manage his political asylum," Guerra told AFP after meeting McAfee
early Tuesday at a hotel in Guatemala City.
McAfee
"is persecuted in Belize, persecuted politically because he stopped
financing the government. They accuse him of a common crime. So what I have to
obtain is an authorization of asylum," the lawyer said.
Asked
whether McAfee fears being assassinated, Guerra said: "Yes, he fears for
his life, because after having helped and supported the current government in
Belize, they now want more and more money, which they pocket and don't
invest."
McAfee, who
maintains his innocence, has left a confusing and often contradictory trail of
information about his life on the run on his blog, whoismcafee.com.
"It
was not easy to exit Belize and required many supporters in many
countries," he wrote on Tuesday.
"I am
in Guatemala and will be meeting with Guatemalan officials this morning. If all
goes well I will do a press conference tomorrow (Wednesday)," he added.
Before
fleeing south into Guatemala, he put out a false report saying he had been
captured near the northern Mexican border and claimed to have sent a
"double" with a North Korean passport to Mexico as another decoy.
Internet users
tracked a photo from a magazine on Monday to Guatemala, but McAfee initially
claimed to have encrypted it to throw police off the scent.
"I
apologize for all of the misdirections over the past few days," McAfee,
who is traveling with two reporters from Vice magazine, wrote on Tuesday.
"Yesterday
was chaotic due to the accidental release of my exact co-ordinates by an
unseasoned technician at Vice headquarters," he said.
"We
made it to safety in spite of this handicap. I had to cancel numerous interviews
with the press yesterday because of this and I apologize to all of those
affected."
Vice
magazine put out an article Tuesday with a photo showing Guerra and McAfee
having breakfast and claiming that Sam, McAfee's partner on the lam, was
actually the lawyer's niece.
"I
have known Samantha for a year and a half. She is a remarkable young woman. I
love her very much and we are getting married," McAfee is quoted as
telling Guerra.
"Unfortunately
you will have a potential criminal in the family. My apologies for that, and I
will do the best I can to make it up to you," he added, reportedly
prompting an amused response from Guerra.
Police say
Faull, a 52-year-old Florida expat, was discovered by his housekeeper with a
9-mm slug in his head lying in a pool of his own blood.
Belize
Prime Minister Dean Barrow has described McAfee as "bonkers," saying
he is only wanted for questioning as a "person of interest" in the
case and urging him to give himself up.
Prior to
his murder, Faull had led neighbors in writing a letter to the mayor
complaining that McAfee's "vicious" dogs and aggressive security
guards were scaring tourists and residents alike.
McAfee shot
dead four of his dogs before fleeing, claiming they had been poisoned, possibly
by Faull.
Police said
the dogs were exhumed last week and ballistics experts are seeing if the slugs
match up with the one found in Faull's head.
McAfee
decamped to Belize in 2009 after losing an estimated $96 million of his $100
million fortune due to bad investments and the financial crisis.
According
to profiles in The New York Times and tech magazine Wired, his lifestyle became
increasingly extreme as he descended into a drug-fuelled existence centered on
young prostitutes.
McAfee was
briefly incarcerated in April after police found him living with a 17-year-old
girl and discovered an arsenal of seven pump-action shotguns, one single-action
shotgun, and two 9-mm pistols.
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