John McAfee, after weeks in hiding from authorities in Belize, made his way to Guatemala, where he found his way to safety, and was able to get a lawyer. After announcing a press conference, he was detained in the country at the immigration office by the Special Police Task Force, according to a post on his blog, by admin Chad Essley, who assures us “this is not a prank or a misdirection.”
Following that post was one apparently from McAfee himself, claiming to be blogging from jail. In that, he wrote, “Vastly superior to Belize jails. I asked for a computer and one magically appeared. The coffee is also excellent. Only time will tell what will happen. No one has a crystal ball. However, I would be truly shocked if I did not conduct the press conference tomorrow as I had originally planned.”
“I believe, by the way, that blogging from a jail cell might be a groundbreaking activity,” he added. “Let’s see if it catches on.”
In the next post, McAfee said he just spoke with the duty officer at the Embassy, who said “there is nothing that they can do.” He said he asked to be returned to the States, and was met with the same response. “So I will wait and see,” he said.
In another post, McAfee said his lawyer brought a judge to the jail, hwo issued a stay order until a higher judge could review the case. “This effectively stops Immigration from returning me to the Belize border,” he said.
A report from Reuters, however, says that Guatemalan police said the country would “seek to expel him” back to Belize:
“He entered the country illegally and we are going to seek his expulsion for this crime,” Interior Minister Mauricio Lopez Bonilla said. McAfee was detained by Guatemalan police and a member of Interpol at the upscale Intercontinental hotel in Guatemala City.
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Government spokesman Francisco Cuevas said the entrepreneur would be expelled to Belize and he expected the process to be completed by early Thursday morning.
Fernando Lucero, spokesman for Guatemala’s immigration department, said immediate deportation had been ruled out. McAfee’s lawyer Telesforo Guerra was seeking an injunction to have him released and the American said on his blog www.whoismcafee.com that he would not now be returned to the Belize border until a higher judge reviewed the case.
Like McAfee, the rest of us will simply have to “wait and see” what happens.