John McAfee, in Hiding, Condemns Belizean Government as 'Pirates' - Wired

John Mcafee photographed at his home in Belize Nov. 2012. Photo: Brian Finke

John McAfee is still in hiding, but he isn’t idle. The American antivirus pioneer sent me an essay this morning in which he offers his perspective on Belize’s history and politics, and his conflicts with the government â€" conflicts that have now reached a head.

“It’s a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules,” McAfee writes. “I am not fond of these rules however and I openly oppose them. This is the root of my struggle here in Belize.”

McAfee is sought for questioning in connection with the murder of Gregory Faull, 52, an American expatriate and neighbor of McAfee’s. Faull was found dead, face up in a pool of blood, in his villa Sunday morning, shot once in the back of the head. Faull had complained about the barking of McAfee’s dogs â€" McAfee kept 11 at his beachside compound â€" and four of those dogs were poisoned Friday night. McAfee says he’s innocent, and that he fears for his life if the police get their hands on him.

His essay follows.

The Latin source of the English word “Pirate” is “Pirata” â€" “one who exploits or plunders”. Belize, which was founded in the 16th Century by pirates and ignored by most of the world for 400 years, is a country of plunderers. The notorious buccaneer and one time governor of Tortuga â€" Peter Wallace â€" established Belize as a pirate haven when he moved here in 1638. It was a perfect haven. The barrier reef, which is the second longest in the world and has few navigable cuts, provided protection against the heavy Spanish Galleons which were prey for the pirates. Belize also lay adjacent to the main trade route used by the Spanish as they slowly sucked nearly forty million pounds of gold from South America and shipped it to Spain. So short forays frequently yielded great gains. The English turned a blind eye to Belize because, in England’s constant wars with the Spanish and the French, the Belizean pirates, by attacking the enemies of Britain, acted as an ally. The rest of the world simply didn’t care. Belize was too insignificant to think about.

Pirate attitudes were brutal and blunt. John Vickers described a Caribbean pirate by the name of Tom Barrow in a London deposition in 1716:

[They] commit great disorders in that Island, plundering the inhabitants, burning their houses, and ravishing their wives. One Thomas Barrow, formerly mate of a Jamaica brigantine which run away some time ago with a Spanish marquiss’s money and effects, is the chief of them and gives out that he only waits for a vessell to go out a pirating, that he is Governor of Providence and will make it a second Madagascar, and expects 500 or 600 men more from Jamaica sloops to join in the settling of Providence, and to make war on the French and Spaniards, but for the English, they don’t intend to meddle with them . . . .

This description could apply exactly to the current Prime Minister of Belize and much of his cabinet. Their Gang Suppression Unit plunders, burns and ravishes. They have run away with the country’s constitution â€" as a month ago trial by jury is no longer a right, and preventive detention can keep a person locked up without charges for up to three days. They wait only for Chavez to provide them with oil and funds and they will then kick ass. But they still need the rest of the world.

Belize is, today, still a pirate haven and is run more or less along the lines established centuries ago by the likes of Captain Morgan, Blackbeard and Captain Barrow: Plunder is the preferred means of wealth acquisition; Exploitation is the preferred formula for success; Brutality creates respect; Fear is the means of governance; Extortion is the method of collecting what is due. It’s a system that functions more or less smoothly if you play by the rules.

I am not fond of these rules however and I openly oppose them. This is the root of my struggle here in Belize.

Over the next few days, I will tell my side of the sad story unfolding around me and tragically affecting my closest friends, many of which have been arrested and are currently being detained under the draconic laws enacted by the current Prime Minister.

Consider Amy. She was the girlfriend of Arthur, the leader of the Taylor Street Gang in Belize City. Arthur attempted to turn himself in to the police. His hands were handcuffed behind his back and he was then shot multiple times. Amy came to my home unannounced and requested asylum from the GSU (Gang Suppression Unit) shortly after Arthur’s murder. I had never seen her before and knew nothing about Arthur other than what I had read in the press. I gave her asylum.

This fact alone would be sufficient answer to my critics that insist that if I were innocent I would simply turn myself in. The list of people who have died while in the custody of Belizean police, from suffocating on their own vomit, hanging themselves, overdosing on drugs, being beaten to death by fellow inmates, being shot while trying to escape, etc. would fill a phone book from an average American town. It is a convenient method of silencing those whom the government deems undesirable.