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Crime

McAfee Arrested In Guatemala 184

Posted by samzenpus from the meth-is-a-hell-of-a-drug dept.
Reports are coming in that John McAfee's on again off again relationship with various law enforcement agencies has finally come to an end. According to interior minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla, he has been arrested in Guatemala after trying to enter the country illegally.
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McAfee Arrested In Guatemala More

McAfee Arrested In Guatemala

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  • Did he take a picture? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Maybe we can get the EXIF data from that one, too.

  • McAfree? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Revotron ( 1115029 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:33PM (#42200167)
    John McAfree?

    What a clever pun considering the situation. Surely it was intentional!

  • McAfree? (Score:3)

    by ilsaloving ( 1534307 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:33PM (#42200171)

    Does this mean no more Crystal Singer books?

  • Whew... (Score:5, Funny)

    by seven of five ( 578993 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:33PM (#42200173)
    For a minute there, I thought John McAfee'd been arrested.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by c0lo ( 1497653 )

      For a minute there, I thought John McAfee'd been arrested.

      Wouldn't that be nice?

      I mean... would that happen, we may read some news on /. (instead of watching the first season of a cheap drama [wikipedia.org])

  • Asylum (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:34PM (#42200183) Journal

    According to USA Today [usatoday.com] he has requested asylum, claiming he is being persecuted in Belize.

    • Re:Asylum (Score:5, Insightful)

      by rollingcalf ( 605357 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:06AM (#42200435)

      If Belize is a problem for him, why doesn't he move back to the US? He still has his US citizenship, and Guatemala will seek to deport him to the US.

      How can he have a valid asylum claim if his country of citizenship isn't giving him a problem? Or is he going to claim that the US will extradite him to Belize?

      • If Belize is a problem for him, why doesn't he move back to the US?

        Because Belize wasn't about to let him on a plane -- he's a fugitive. How do you think he's going to just up and go back to the US?

        The two countries share a border, and he was arrested trying to enter illegally.

        As to if they'll send him to the US or Belize ... stay tuned.

        • I was referring to going back to the US from Guatamela. Once he's in Guatemala, he could either seek to get on a plane to the US like a regular passenger, or ask Guatemala to deport him to the US at his own expense.

          • Re:Asylum (Score:4, Insightful)

            by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @01:03AM (#42200759) Homepage

            Well, it's not up to him now, is it?

            "He entered the country illegally and we are going to seek his expulsion for this crime," Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said.

            Guatemala government spokesman Francisco Cuevas said McAfee would be expelled to Belize and he expected the process to be completed by early Thursday morning.

            I'm quite sure that he was trying to get back to the US or someplace which suited him.

        • That's why the US has embassies (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @03:57AM (#42201475)

          In the event that it really was a case of Belize trying to set him up and him needing to get out, the US would almost certainly help him. It extends powerful protections to its citizens. He gets in the embassy, he's back in US territory and the rest isn't a big deal, given the US's resources.

          However if you do a little digging you find that he's probably not on that good a terms with the US, and that's why he left. His move there wasn't because it is an unparalleled paradise or because he has ties there or something, it was because he was running from the US more or less.

        • Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @06:53AM (#42202075)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Nyder ( 754090 )

          If Belize is a problem for him, why doesn't he move back to the US?

          Because Belize wasn't about to let him on a plane -- he's a fugitive. How do you think he's going to just up and go back to the US?

          The two countries share a border, and he was arrested trying to enter illegally.

          As to if they'll send him to the US or Belize ... stay tuned.

          The US and Belize do NOT share a border.

          I know i had a public school education, but even I'm not that stupid.

          Yes, I know you meant Guatemala and Belize, but you don't even have Guatemala mentioned in your post, so it seems like you are saying the US and Belize share a border. I would be embarrassed if I made such a mess up in public.

      • Re:Asylum (Score:5, Interesting)

        by DarkTempes ( 822722 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @01:08AM (#42200795)

        I know at one point there was a wrongful death lawsuit against him in the States and is one of the speculated reasons for him liquidating all of his US assets and moving to Belize.

        I dunno what the actual outcome of that lawsuit was though.

      • If Belize is a problem for him, why doesn't he move back to the US? He still has his US citizenship, and Guatemala will seek to deport him to the US.

        How can he have a valid asylum claim if his country of citizenship isn't giving him a problem? Or is he going to claim that the US will extradite him to Belize?

        I think the asylum request is an instance of "playing the last card in your hand, and hope it wins the trick".

        Or maybe he was asking for a different kind of asylum.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        He's being "persecuted" in the U.S. as well for skipping out on a trial over a death he caused of a man he accidentally manslaughtered when he allowed the man to ride on a custom hang glider he had developed. Also, we would just probably hand him over if that wasn't the case.

    • Re:Asylum (Score:4, Funny)

      by mug funky ( 910186 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:16AM (#42200495)

      he should have tried Ecuador...

    • Maybe he should rather be in an asylum. He sounds bat shit crazy. It is probably due to a combination of syphillus and crack.

  • Licensing (Score:4, Funny)

    by girlintraining ( 1395911 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:37PM (#42200209)

    Looks like his License (to kill) expired. The renewal fees were probably too much.

  • I hear... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:41PM (#42200239)

    that he's going to get a 30 day trial.

    • Re:I hear... (Score:4, Funny)

      by msauve ( 701917 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:51PM (#42200317)
      "he has been arrested in Guatemala after trying to enter the country illegally."

      You'd think he'd know better than to try and use a Trojan horse.

    • Re:I hear... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:03AM (#42200401) Journal

      Anonymous Coward, whoever you may be: I don't hold your post against you. Jokes of this nature are simply obligatory. What would a three hour opera be like when missing the final note of the final crescendo? Or "Shave and a haircut" without "two bits"? Or "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrreeess" without "Johnny!"? Certain things must be done, and certain words must be said. I thank you, as a fellow human being, for making this sacrifice, and providing one of the thousands of obligatory jokes that have been posted to Slashdot over the years.

      Moderators: Thank you, for clicking the drop-list, selecting "Funny" (and not accidentally anything else, as your moderation takes affect immediately and cannot be corrected), and consuming one of your moderation points to bring the obligatory joke to our attention. The joining together of individuals, possibly from the far reaches of the globe, to orchestrate such humor, is truly humbling and brings a tear to my eye.

    • I hear his defense will actually slow up the system though.

  • dumb (Score:4, Funny)

    by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:50PM (#42200301)
    He should have morphed himself so their border patrol wouldn't recognize his signature and quarantine him.

  • and now the Guatemala court system will slow down (Score:5, Funny)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:56PM (#42200343)

    and now the Guatemala court system will slow down big time to be able to run McAfee though the system.

  • How he was busted... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Frosty Piss ( 770223 ) * on Wednesday December 05, 2012 @11:58PM (#42200359)

    An interesting note on how McAfee was busted:

    To promote its exclusive access, VICE published a smartphone picture of McAfee with reporter Rocco Castoro. That was a big mistake.

    Digitally embedded in the photo was the location where it was taken, and it placed McAfee in Guatemala -- just across the border from Belize. Now the world knew where John McAfee was hiding.

    From http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/12/06/belize-mcafee-arrest-idINDEE8B501X20121206 [reuters.com]

  • Why flee to Guatemala? Does he have relatives there? A fat secret bank account?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by petman ( 619526 )
      Because it's just south of Belize. It's not that he was feeling to Guatemala but that he was fleeing from Belize.

    • Re:Why... (Score:5, Informative)

      by c0lo ( 1497653 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:28AM (#42200579)
      TFA

      McAfee said he would seek political asylum in Guatemala, which has been embroiled in a long-running territorial dispute with Belize. There is no extradition treaty between the two countries...

    • Re:Why... (Score:5, Informative)

      by jonadab ( 583620 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:34AM (#42200615) Homepage Journal
      > Why flee to Guatemala?

      Okay, I know this flies in the face of every movie ever, but in real life a person who is trying to avoid being detained by law enforcement (for something serious, like murder, not just parking tickets or whatnot) generally has to avoid international airports. Ships are almost as bad. That leaves small boats (like, personal sailboats) as the main way to get off the continent. *Buying* a boat, if you don't already have one, is a frighteningly high-profile activity.

      So going by land is a fairly logical choice. That limits the possible destinations somewhat. If you go north from the US, you can only go to Canada. It's not particularly easy to hide in Canada. So the logical thing is to go south. You probably don't want to stay in Mexico, because it's directly adjacent to the country you're fleeing. And you definitely don't want to try to cross the Panama canal, because there are only a couple of bridges that cross it, and it would be trivial for someone (like, say, law enforcement) to have them watched.

      So you end up in Central America. This gives you a choice of seven countries to hide in, which means anyone who's looking for you has potentially seven distinct local jurisdictions to deal with (eight if they can't be sure you're not still in Mexico), which is an annoying impediment for them and may just buy you a bit of extra time to figure out what to do. Maybe.

      There's still a substantial amount of risk, of course. Running from the law is always going to be somewhat risky. And, indeed, he got caught.
      • ...he was fleeing from Belize, not the USA.

      • Of course, if you're the Belize authorities, you can sit back, smoke a couple and wait for the idiot to tell the entire world where he is.

        Complex spy novel level planning notwithstanding.

  • All the "bonkers" and "Crazy" talk... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:19AM (#42200517) Journal

    After reading the timeline of events. It really seems like he didn't pay some protection money. First the police raid his house (for a meth lab) and drop charges, then after he donates to the police the next day all his dogs are killed. He definitely pissed off some people. So is he Crazy? I think hes so damn shaken up he cant think straight and tried to run because he honestly thinks he would be escape goat for a murder and might even be murdered himself.

    Timeline @ http://wecheck.org/wiki/John_McAfee [wecheck.org]

    TDLR; I think he was too busy banging the 17 yo and having the good life, so I doubt he had a meth lab and was a drug kingpin.

  • Why back to Belize? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Aryeh Goretsky ( 129230 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @12:49AM (#42200693) Homepage
    Hello,

    From RTFA'ing, it seems that Guatemala and Belize have no mutual legal assistance treat and are, in fact, engaged in a territorial dispute over their border, so I am wondering why Guatemala would bother sending him back to Belize, as opposed to escorting him to the airport and putting him on the next plane out of the country, wherever that might be. Or Mr. McAfee* could certainly afford a flight back to the United States, Switzerland or pretty much any other place.

    Even more strange is the report [cbsnews.com] from CBS News quoting Guatemala's Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla that "McAfee was detained by police at a hotel in an upscale Guatemala City neighborhood with the help of Interpol agents" (emphasis mine) as Interpol agents do not have arrest powers. Interpol can request that someone be provisionally arrested in order for them to be extradited, but a search [interpol.int] of the Wanted Person's database on their web site reveals that no such "Red Notice" has been issued for John McAfee.

    I do hope that Mr. McAfee is treated fairly by the Belizean authorities, and that his concerns of abuse and torture at their hands is simply an irrational fear.
    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

    *I was told earlier that is improper to use a title of Doctor since his doctorate is an an honorary degree.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by q043x ( 256014 )
      Belize is the enemy. Send in the clowns.

    • I do hope that Mr. McAfee is treated fairly by the Belizean authorities, and that his concerns of abuse and torture at their hands is simply an irrational fear.

      Such fears, be they rational or irrational, rise some questions about why he moved to and stayed in Belize in the first place, especially after being arrested once already. Did he, for example, attempt to evade the taxes necessary to maintain the society ordered and relatively free of corruption? And if the answer would happen to be "yes", then havi

    • From RTFA'ing, it seems that Guatemala and Belize have no mutual legal assistance treat and are, in fact, engaged in a territorial dispute over their border, so I am wondering why Guatemala would bother sending him back to Belize, as opposed to escorting him to the airport and putting him on the next plane out of the country, wherever that might be.

      When you are involved in a multinational territorial dispute, both parties just might not want the antics of a batshit insane psychopath to gum up the works. Neither country controls McAfee's behavior (it's not clear that he can control it either). Loose cannons are very problematic. Easier for Guatemala to pack him up and toss him back over the border with a note pinned on his shirt saying "No thanks".

  • Quite clever of McAfee (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 06, 2012 @01:24AM (#42200853)

    If his life was indeed in danger, he handled the situation well. By appearing to behave like a lunatic (on the internet), he got the attention of the international news media. This attention acted as a shield - rather like it does with Julian Assange.

    McAfee has brought worldwide attention to the Belize justice system. Now if/when he returns to stand trial, he will be guaranteed a fair hearing. Belize has a growing tourism industry, and won't allow their efforts to be sabotaged by corrupt judicial officials.

    • If his life was indeed in danger, he handled the situation well. By appearing to behave like a lunatic (on the internet), he got the attention of the international news media.

      OK, that explains one. Now why do the rest of us behave like lunatics on the internet?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Nyder ( 754090 )

        If his life was indeed in danger, he handled the situation well. By appearing to behave like a lunatic (on the internet), he got the attention of the international news media.

        OK, that explains one. Now why do the rest of us behave like lunatics on the internet?

        Bath salts?

      • Maybe it's the internet and not the people on it?

  • Travel Advisory (Score:4, Informative)

    by westlake ( 615356 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @01:37AM (#42200913)
    This from the US State Department:

    Border Areas: A long-standing border dispute between Belize and Guatemala has not been resolved and many areas of the border area are not adequately patrolled. Smugglers, narcotics traffickers and wildlife poachers enter Belize in the shared border region, and there have been incidents of clashes between some of these individuals and Belize military and law enforcement personnel, some of which included the exchange of gunfire. Visitors should avoid trekking or other activities near the Belize-Guatemala border to ensure that they do not inadvertently cross the border into Guatemala. The Embassy cautions U.S. citizens who choose to travel on cross-border public buses between Guatemala and Belize in response to a spike in armed bus attacks by bandits in January 2011. Illegal cross-border activities increase after nightfall. Visitors to the border areas should travel only during daylight.

    Belize [state.gov]

    CRIME AND SAFETY TIPS: Guatemala has one of the highest violent crime rates in Central America. Between January and September 2012, an average of 95 murders per week were reported countrywide in Guatemala. The vast majority of murders do not involve foreigners; however, the sheer volume of activity means that local officials, who are often inexperienced and underpaid, are unable to cope with the problem. Rule of law is lacking as the judicial system is weak, overworked, and inefficient. Criminals know there is little chance they will be caught or punished as the rate of convictions/resolution are very low.

    The number of violent crimes reported by U.S. citizens and other foreigners has remained high and incidents have included, but are not limited to, assault, theft, armed robbery, carjacking, rape, kidnapping, and murder, even in areas of Guatemala City once considered safe.

    Guatemala is a country with many different and firmly held local beliefs and customs. Particularly in small villages, residents are often wary and suspicious of outsiders. In the past, Guatemalan citizens have been lynched for suspicion of child abduction, so we recommend that U.S. citizens keep a distance from local children, and refrain from actions that could fuel such suspicions. In addition, U.S. citizens are advised to be aware of and avoid activities that might unintentionally violate a cultural or religious belief. The following recommendations will help residents and visitors alike to increase their safety:

    Avoid gatherings of agitated people. Attempting to intervene may put you at risk of attacks from mobs.

    Avoid close contact with local children, including taking photographs, especially in rural areas. Such contact can be viewed with deep suspicion and may provoke panic and violence.

    Keep informed of possible demonstrations by following the local news and consulting hotel personnel and tour guides. Avoid areas where demonstrations are occurring.

    Guatemala [state.gov]

    McAfee seems to have cut pretty close to the line in his pursuit of young women in Belize. Not a pedophile. But not someone to be trusted, either. A bizarre visit to John McAfee's pleasure palace in Belize [cnn.com]

    • The US State department's info on Guatamala is certainly entertaining:

      Leaving cars unattended in parking lots of fast food franchises can also invite break-ins in spite of the presence of armed guards. Make sure you leave the car just long enough to complete the meal—the armed guards are for decoration only.

  • Someone explain this to me (Score:4, Funny)

    by MikShapi ( 681808 ) on Thursday December 06, 2012 @01:58AM (#42201013) Journal

    Mcafee got arrested.
    A guy who allegedly understands security murders someone (allegedly), and then proceeds to be "on the run" throughout the third world, while stopping twice a day to give the media an interview, tell them where he is and what he's up to, reality TV style.
    The surprising twist in the story: The authorities found him.
    Who woulda bloody thunk.
    This guy should be shot for stupidity even before being tried for murder.

    • The words of Gene Hackman in 'Enemy of the State' ring a bell: "You're either incredibly smart or incredibly stupid" -- I for one am looking forward to seeing how this pans out!

  • Point 1)

    He spends months in Belize without being arrested, but is arrested within a week of entering Guatemala, even knowing 24 hours (or more) before that his position had been broadcast to the world. Riiiight...

    Point 2)

    I guess authorities in Guatemala are much more willing to have you stay arrested than in Mexico.

    If he's extradited to North Korea you know exactly what is happening here.

    • If he's extradited to North Korea you know exactly what is happening here.

      Jong Uns is having trouble with porno pop ups.

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