from a friend.....

I watched McAfee's "Q&A" session from Guatemala City and, surprisingly given what some had expected, he sounded fairly rational and composed, although he didn't address some key issues. The video feed was messed up, and I may not have heard it all, but he came across as pretty reasonable in the 10 minutes of Q&A I saw. (He answered questions submitted online, and apparently he selected which questions to answer.)

Basically he made some points, with which some would agree, about Belize government corruption at various levels. He alluded to the alleged gang member who died in police custody. Regarding Faull, he said that he didn't know the man very well and had spoken maybe 50 words to him over five years. He accused Faull of being a heavy drinker and said he wouldn't be around people who drank.

There were a few odd statements, such as why he now says he wants to go to the U.S. or to Britain (he's a dual citizen) and will never return to Belize, after having said many times on his blog and in news reports that all he wants to do is to live in Belize. Also, he said "in five years" the PM had never "reached out" to him or spoken to him (as if somehow that was his due) and had not agreed to meet him on neutral ground. A bit of a delusion of grandeur there. He also didn't address issues such as his alleged past drug use, past irrational behavior, interest in guns, hiring alleged gang members, unusual lifestyle, living with several teen-age girls, much about his dogs and problems with them with his neighbors including Faull, exactly why he ran and hid from police -- in other words, he really didn't talk about most of the big issues. Also, there were one or two errors of fact -- McAfee said "70%" of Belize's total employment is in tourism.

McAfee said that his health was okay for a man of 67, and that what had happened in Guatemala City regarding the hospitalization was that he hadn't eaten or drunk very much in two days and had been chain smoking cigarettes and that he passed out, hit his head on the wall and woke up confused.