BELIZE: Newspaper editor says John McAfee convinced of government vendetta against him
Record ID:
702448
BELIZE: Newspaper editor says John McAfee convinced of government vendetta against him
- Title: BELIZE: Newspaper editor says John McAfee convinced of government vendetta against him
- Date: 15th November 2012
- Summary: SAN PEDRO, BELIZE (NOVEMBER 15, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF WATER TAXI COMPANY "COASTAL EXPRESS" NEAR MCAFEE PROPERTY COASTAL EXPRESS BANNER BOAT DEPARTING WITH PASSENGERS SAN PEDRO STREET BANNER FOR THE SAN PEDRO SUN NEWSPAPER EXTERIOR OF THE SAN PEDRO SUN'S OFFICES TAMARA SNIFFIN, EDITOR OF THE SAN PEDRO SUN, IN THE NEWS ROOM TAMARA SNIFFIN WATCHING VIDEO OF JOHN MCAFEE ON HER COMPUTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) TAMARA SNIFFIN, EDITOR OF THE SAN PEDRO SUN, SAYING: "I talked to Mr. McAfee, he returned a phone call of mine on Tuesday, I had left a message for him on Monday and he did return my call on Tuesday, and he says he is still in the country and that he is not leaving the country, that this is his home. He did have problems with the authorities about six months ago in May, because he has a compound on the mainland of Belize that was raided because they suspected that his laboratory was illegally producing antibiotics and apparently they did want to inspect the area to see if indeed that was the truth. And my understanding is that he did not cooperate with the police in allowing them on to the property so they ended up moving in in force. And he has his security, it's known to be armed, so they took pretty aggressive measures when they stormed his compound and it did not go down very well according to Mr. McAfee and he says that he was in handcuffs for 14 hours and one of his dogs was shot during that time. So ever since then, Mr. McAfee is convinced that the police and the government have a vendetta against him."
- Embargoed: 30th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Belize
- Country: Belize
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA3MYUP4SJXB4MXIJFP23P61THX
- Story Text: The editor in the Belizean newspaper the San Pedro Sun, Tamara Sniffin, said on Thursday (November 15) that she had spoken to anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee, who said he was convinced that Belizean authorities have a vendetta against him.
Belizean police want to question McAfee, 67, about the murder of his neighbour and fellow U.S. citizen, Gregory Viant Faull, 52.
"I talked to Mr. McAfee, he returned a phone call of mine on Tuesday, I had left a message for him on Monday and he did return my call on Tuesday, and he says he is still in the country and that he is not leaving the country, that this is his home. He did have problems with the authorities about six months ago in May, because he has a compound on the mainland of Belize that was raided because they suspected that his laboratory was illegally producing antibiotics (sic) and apparently they did want to inspect the area to see if indeed that was the truth. And my understanding is that he did not cooperate with the police in allowing them on to the property so they ended up moving in in force. And he has his security, it's known to be armed, so they took pretty aggressive measures when they stormed his compound and it did not go down very well according to Mr. McAfee and he says that he was in handcuffs for 14 hours and one of his dogs was shot during that time. So ever since then, Mr. McAfee is convinced that the police and the government have a vendetta against him," Sniffin said on Thursday.
There is already a case pending in Belize against McAfee for possession of illegal firearms, and police previously suspected him of running a lab to make the synthetic drug crystal meth.
Police have been unable to track down McAfee since finding Faull dead on Sunday (November 11) in his house on Ambergris Caye, an island off the coast. In an interview on Tuesday (November 13), McAfee said he had gone into hiding because he believed Belizean authorities were trying to frame him for Faull's murder.
According to Wired Magazine, which has published details of several interviews with the entrepreneur, McAfee says he has been riding in boats, hunkering down on the floorboards of taxis, and sleeping in a bed that he said was infested with lice.
Since he went into hiding, McAfee has repeatedly told Wired he had nothing to do with Faull's death. Explaining his actions, McAfee said he does not want to give himself up because he is afraid the authorities will torture or kill him.
Sniffin added that many locals were concerned about how the media spotlight would reflect on their town, which she said is largely a safe place to live or visit.
"It's been devastating to the community. We're not used to having something like this happen here. And especially with the media attention that it is acquiring, we are all concerned that it reflects badly on us and really we are a peaceful community and this is not something that happens here very often, and people are just concerned that it is going to have some effects on our tourism. But the point is that it is a safe community and we don't have random murders like that," she said.
McAfee also told Wired Magazine that authorities would track him down in the end. On Wednesday, the magazine said that McAfee claimed to have dyed his hair, eyebrows, beard, and mustache jet black.
McAfee, who invented the anti-virus software that bears his name, has homes and businesses in Belize, and is believed to have settled around 2010 in the tiny Central American nation bordered by Mexico and Guatemala. The ex-Lockheed systems consultant started McAfee Associates in 1989. He now has no relationship with the company, which was sold to Intel Corp. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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