- John McAfee had requested asylum, claiming he faced police persecution
- Guatemala rejected the request on Thursday
- The software mogul faces deportation to Belize
(CNN) -- Guatemala has rejected software mogul John McAfee's bid for asylum, setting up his impending deportation to Belize, where police want to talk with him about a neighbor's shooting death.
There was no basis for the asylum request, and so it was denied, presidential spokesman Francisco Cuevas said Thursday.
Guatemalan authorities took McAfee into custody Wednesday on accusations of entering the country illegally.
After weeks in hiding, the 67-year-old Internet security pioneer emerged publicly Tuesday in Guatemala's capital, hundreds of miles from the Caribbean island in Belize where his next-door neighbor was found dead.
McAfee had requested asylum in Guatemala, arguing that he left Belize to escape police persecution.
Belize authorities have said they want to talk to McAfee about the November 11 shooting of his neighbor, American businessman Gregory Faull.
McAfee founded his namesake computer security software in 1987, initially running it out of his home in California. He sold his stake in McAfee Associates in 1994 and moved to Belize in 2008.