I meant to drop this story earlier John McAfee Is the Founder of the McAfee Software who went "abroad" after harsh criticism and subsequent persecution of the United States Of America I thought this would be interestingt o my listeners as I did a show about "The Escape Artist Culture" with Marc Krieger on Boss Game radio ((Blogtalkradio)). Mr. McAfee is a very interesting read because, a millionaire who loves bath salts calls for good cinema. Im just waiting for someone to make a docufilm about this "Escape Artist" in paticular. If you missed the show no fret I posted i below for your listening pleasure.
<<<Boss Game Radio Listen FREE>>>
Listen to internet radio with DycePs on Blog Talk Radio
By the time I contacted him on Wednesday, even by his own recent standards, John McAfee was having an unpredictable week. Seven days ago the multimillionaire internet security pioneer was still hiding in the jungle of Belize wanted for questioning by police in connection with the murder of his neighbour, Gregory Faull, who had been found shot dead at his home on November 11. McAfee had subsequently fled only to reappear on the internet, expressing fears that he was being set up by the Belize government, which he believed wanted him killed for refusing to pay a bribe.
Last Monday, after evading police for three weeks, there were reports of McAfee being arrested crossing the border into Mexico. In fact, the detained individual turned out to be a lookalike and the real 67-year-old self-styled adventurer was being smuggled across a different border, into Guatemala.As his blog later revealed, he was in the company of his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sam Vanegas, and two reporters from Vice, an American magazine. McAfee was wearing a disguise that involved a dyed black goatee and flattened wads of chewing gum under his upper lip to make it protrude.
On Tuesday, one of those Vice reporters, apparently unable to believe his gonzo journalist luck, posted a picture of himself alongside McAfee on the internet, with the headline "We're with John McAfee, suckers".
The photograph was very quickly examined by a Twitter user, @simplenomad, who discovered from its image file an exact grid reference for the runaway quartet: they were staying at an exclusive resort in Guatemala called Ranchon Mary. The picture had been taken next to the pool.
McAfee, the anti-virus security guru, realising that he had been exposed by this schoolboy data error, made himself known to the Guatemalan authorities in the company of the "best criminal lawyer in the country" Telesforo Guerra, who also happened to be his girlfriend's uncle. The fugitive had abandoned his beachwear and surfer's peroxide in favour of a sober suit and trimmed beard, and announced that he was seeking asylum in Guatemala.
On Friday morning McAfee was arrested by Guatemalan police as an illegal migrant, but before a deportation order could be served, he was found semi-conscious in his room having suffered what his lawyer called "two minor heart attacks" and doctors termed "anxiety and high blood pressure". He was later released from hospital into informal house arrest pending appeal against deportation.
Not conspicuously a man shy of the media, in the midst of some of this mayhem, McAfee also found the time to correspond with the Observer. On Wednesday evening, having circuitously got hold of his email address, I had sent him a few questions with a view to capturing his view of some of the surreal turns that his story had taken. He replied, courteously, overnight.
The following day I sent him more queries, and again he found the time to reply by return late on Thursday evening, a few hours before his arrest and subsequent heart problems. Our email conversation, which began with news of McAfee's border crossing, went as follows:
You must be relieved to be in Guatemala and perhaps among friends for the first time in a while. Does it feels like the fates are more on your side than they were?
For the first time I am among people who truly understand my plight and are not afraid to openly sympathise. I did a TV interview yesterday and was chatting in a friendly way with the reporter beforehand in order to give them a background so they could phrase their questions.
I mentioned that I had not donated money to the Belize government when they asked for it and they sent in their soldiers to intimidate me. The reporter responded "The Guatemalan government no longer uses such tactics. You have come to the right country." Later in the day I gave a small press conference exclusively for the Latin American press and said that the government of Belize was trying to jail me or kill me because I was openly and loudly speaking out against them in the press. The young man next to me from a local Guatemalan newspaper muttered "Claro"—Spanish for "Of course".
I am getting nothing but sympathy from the press, from hotel staff, from people in the street. It is the First World press turned upside down. The only truly upside-down viewpoint is the First World press, which operates on the basis of sensationalism and fear.
For more than three weeks the world has been watching and reading about you trying to keep control of your story and your life. Some people have suggested it must feel like trying to hold on to your own novel or movie or biography second by second while others are all the time trying to rewrite the beginning, middle and end. Is that actually how it feels?
It's been chaos. The press has run away with itself. Headlines shout "McAfee accused of murder" and "Murder suspect on the run". In fact, I have been accused of nothing. There have been no charges issued. A few hundred headlines stated "McAfee believes bath salts are the best drug ever." Where that came from is anyone's guess.
The majority of the headlines proclaim me to be drug-crazed or a madman. A reporter from Good Morning America told me on the phone last night that he questioned whether the police were really after me. I am serious!!! I have been raided by 42 armed soldiers in [my house in] Orange Walk in April. The police raided my house eight times in San Pedro, the last time stealing nearly a half million dollars in property.At first, the police denied the last raid. When I published an audio from Sam's father, whom they threatened to torture during the raid, they finally admitted they were there. The police have put out multiple press releases stating that when I am apprehended I will be detained. Yet the gentleman from Good Morning America was actually surprised when I declined to be on the show or talk to him further. I ask you—which of us was the madman?
No comments:
Post a Comment