The Truth about John McAfee and Belize – the red herring

I do not know if John McAfee murdered his neighbor, but i do know that he is very interested, especially now, in painting belize as a dangerous, ugly place. He is after all, accused of creating drug labs, shacking up with under age girls, being in the possession of dozens and dozens of unregistered rounds and many many guns, and now sought in a murder case…so i guess, out of desperation and to throw a red herring…. Let’s make the tranquil Caribbean nation look “Scary”. And then decided bury himself in the sand – figuratively and literally.

Reality is – i’ve lived on this tiny little island of Ambergris Caye for 7 beautiful years. Read back in my blogs, i call belize “Mother Belize”…because she has taken care of me. She is a beautiful country, and if you ask anyone who has every been here, they will tell you this:

“I came for the Mayan Ruins and the Worlds Largest Living Barrier Reef….but i come back for the people”. People like Coconut Leo, and Paisano, and Mayor Danny with his every present hat, and even the Mean Ole Pedro…they come back for Alexis who sells jewelry and tries his best to make those that helped him go to school proud. THESE are the people in MY neighborhood…when i bike to town, i think the Sesame Street song in my head (ugh, Elmo and McAffee in one week! 😉 ).

But the truth is, that IS the truth. That IS the truth about San Pedro, and all of Belize. Whether in San Ignacio and Mountain Pine Ridge, down in Placencia, Dangriga or the charming Punta Gorda…or chilling at the split in Caye Caulker, people will smile back at you when you smile at them. Sure, we have our flaws (the previous mayor of san pedro being a major one!), and i’ve had my trouble with petty crime, but that’s mostly because we are all human, living in a society. A democratic, free, society. I’ve been very vocal about speaking out about government, police, crime and many things – but i never had to bury myself in the sand and cover my head with a card board box.

The truth is, John McAfee fell in love with Belize and then made the exact same decision i made. He chose to move down to Belize, buy a little house, and start a small business. The difference is, he then chose to violate several major laws, and i didnt. He’s chosen to run from the law in a democratic society. His allegations of death are ludicrous…. ESPECIALLY now that he’s made sure that everyone is looking at him. That he’s put himself out there to be a victim in a wild west movie with a gustapo militia.

Um, just simply NOT true. I live here too, and it’s a TINY place – only 18,000 people on this island – and only ONE accusation like this.

Ok, he has property on the mainland as well, so let’s do whole country – 300,000 people…

So to give you scope – in the course of my life and working career in the USA and Canada it is fair to say that i have met over 300,000 people. The entire phone book for the ENTIRE country is 6″ x 8″ and 3/4″ (three quarters of an inch!) thick. This phone book contains the land lines, cell phones, fax numbers and emails of everyone in the ENTIRE country.

So…ergo…herewith…blah blah…someone please explain to me how, if McAffees allegations are true to the extent that he is saying, that NO ONE else has ever had this problem?

oh wait…no one else has ever had this much access to media. Um, also not true…he’s not the only rich, famous person who comes to belize. Leonardo DiCaprio owns an island here, Francis Ford Coppolla owns 3 resorts, Tiger Woods has golfed here, and Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas were here recently. Harrison Ford has been coming here since they filmed “Mosquito Coast” here back in the ’80s and now comes with Callista Flockhart every few months or so. Never happened to any of them…..

So, nope, it’s just McAfee. Belize as a Country and Tourism Destination are not to blame, nope…just McAffee. It’s a one off situation, with one ‘off’ person!

And believe it or not, i actually DO believe that once apprehended, McAffee will receive a true, fair and appropriate trial in the country in which he chose to live.

May justice prevail.

PS – Ambergris Today did a GREAT editorial – click here