When LeBaron was first assigned a safety crew, he was reluctant. He refused to even let Ayala drive. “I underestimated him,” he mentioned.
At this time, nonetheless, LeBaron admits he will depend on his safety crew. Agent Ayala isn’t far-off, alert for hazard.
Ayala defined that the one time the safety crew withdraws is when LeBaron campaigns in distant areas the place the presence of the Nationwide Guard would possible trigger a confrontation with native cartels.
Nevertheless, not all safety threats come from organized crime. Throughout one occasion, LeBaron and 700 others rode horses right into a city, and Ayala’s fast reactions prevented a thick tree department from falling on Johnson Berlin, LeBaron’s spouse.
Sporting an impeccably ironed short-sleeved shirt, Ayala defined that his job is to be versatile, facilitating however not hindering the candidate’s marketing campaign. Meaning plans are made (and modified) on the fly.
“Safety through the election marketing campaign differs from regular VIP safety,” Ayala mentioned.
“Every thing adjustments. We’ve to be ready always with out the luxurious of planning major, secondary and tertiary routes that include normal diplomatic safety.”
Ayala factors out that many high-level politicians have very tight schedules to construction their day, organized with the assistance of a giant employees. Nevertheless, defending candidates like LeBaron requires extra fluidity.
Nevertheless, protecting gear isn’t all the time profitable. On the final day of the marketing campaign, José Alfredo Cabrera, candidate in Guerrero, was murdered regardless of having a safety crew from the Nationwide Guard.
Ayala blamed the brand new protocols for creating safety weaknesses. He mentioned they require Nationwide Guard officers to be uniformed and keep away from candidates.
The brand new guidelines “don’t respect the same old bodyguard protocols that require being as shut as potential to the director always,” he defined.
Ayala additionally pressured the necessity to adapt when touring with candidates, one thing he believes the brand new guidelines don’t ponder.
“When there isn’t any agenda, it’s a must to do every little thing within the second. The same old protocols, comparable to not driving at evening, not apply,” he said.
Ayala’s potential to adapt was examined one final time when LeBaron left his last marketing campaign rally at 11 p.m. in Matachi, an space identified to be notably harmful.
Throughout the course of the occasion, Ayala had obtained data that armed males, in about 20 autos, had been patrolling the encircling streets.
The 2-hour journey again to LeBaron’s home was going to be harmful. Time was of the essence: each second outdoor was a second at risk.
Beforehand, LeBaron had all the time insisted on breaking protocol to take a seat within the entrance, however now he adopted the officer’s directions to take a seat within the again together with his spouse. Two Nationwide Guard vehicles sandwiched the candidate’s car.
As they had been driving, Johnson Berlin seen a truck behaving erratically behind them and its headlights flashing by way of the rear window. Worry flashed throughout his eyes because the truck repeatedly tried to overhaul the dashing convoy.
On excessive alert, Nationwide Guard officers educated their weapons on the truck, the inexperienced lasers from their firearms bouncing off the car because it lastly handed the convoy and disappeared into the evening.
Ayala, LeBaron, and the convoy continued flying down the nation roads, with Ayala hugging the lead car, by no means various ft away. They ran crimson lights, reaching speeds of 180 kilometers per hour (120 miles per hour).
However then the chase abruptly stopped. They wanted gasoline.
“We’re in the midst of what looks as if a high-speed chase when we now have to cease for half an hour to refuel. It’s tremendous inefficient and harmful,” LeBaron would later remark, after lastly returning to the relative security of his residence.
However the marketing campaign lastly ended. There was nothing left for him to do apart from await the result of Sunday’s election and see the place life would take him subsequent.