When LeBaron was first allotted a safety workforce, he was reluctant. He refused to even let Ayala drive. “I underestimated him,” he mentioned.
These days, although, LeBaron admits he leans on his safety workforce. Agent Ayala is rarely far-off, awaiting hazard.
Ayala defined that the one time the safety workforce stands down is when LeBaron campaigns in distant areas the place the presence of the Nationwide Guard would doubtless trigger a confrontation with native cartels.
Not all the security threats come from organised crime, although. Throughout one occasion, LeBaron and 700 others rode on horseback right into a city, and Ayala’s fast reactions prevented a thick tree department from falling on Johnson Berlin, LeBaron’s spouse.
Sporting a short-sleeved, immaculately ironed shirt, Ayala defined that his job is to be versatile, facilitating however not impeding the candidate’s marketing campaign. Meaning plans are made — and altered — on the fly.
“Operating safety on the marketing campaign path differs from regular VIP safety,” Ayala mentioned.
“All the things modifications. We’ve got to be prepared always with out the luxurious of planning main, secondary and tertiary routes that include customary diplomatic safety.”
Ayala factors out that many high-level politicians have tightly wrought schedules to construction their day, organised with the assistance of a giant workers. Defending candidates like LeBaron, nevertheless, requires extra fluidity.
The safety groups aren’t at all times profitable, although. On the ultimate day of campaigning, Jose Alfredo Cabrera, a candidate in Guerrero, was assassinated regardless of having a Nationwide Guard safety workforce.
Ayala blamed new protocols for creating safety weaknesses. He mentioned they require the Nationwide Guard brokers to be in uniform and stand at a distance from the candidates.
The brand new guidelines “don’t respect the standard bodyguard protocols that require you to be as near the principal as potential always”, he defined.
Ayala additionally underscored the necessity to adapt when on the street with candidates, one thing he feels the brand new guidelines don’t accommodate.
“When there isn’t a agenda, it’s important to do all the pieces within the second. Common protocols, similar to not driving at evening, now not apply,” he mentioned.
Ayala’s capacity to adapt was examined one final time when LeBaron left the ultimate rally of his marketing campaign at 11pm in Matachi, an space recognized to be significantly harmful.
Throughout the course of the occasion, Ayala had obtained intelligence that armed males, in about 20 autos, had been patrolling the encompassing streets.
The 2-hour drive again to LeBaron’s residence was going to be harmful. Time was of the essence: each second within the open was a second in peril.
Beforehand, LeBaron had at all times insisted on breaking protocol to sit down within the entrance, however now, he adopted the agent’s directions to sit down within the again together with his spouse. Two Nationwide Guard vehicles sandwiched the candidate’s automobile.
As they drove, Johnson Berlin seen a truck behaving erratically behind them, its headlights flashing by their rear window. Worry flickered throughout her eyes because the truck repeatedly tried to overhaul the rushing convoy.
On excessive alert, the Nationwide Guard brokers aimed their weapons on the truck, the inexperienced lasers of their firearms bouncing over the automobile because it lastly handed the convoy and disappeared into the evening.
Ayala, LeBaron and the convoy continued to fly throughout the nation roads, with Ayala hugging the lead automobile, by no means quite a lot of toes away. They sped by crimson lights, hitting speeds of 180 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour).
However then the chase got here to a sudden cease. They wanted petrol.
“We’re in the midst of what seems like a high-speed chase when we now have to cease for half an hour to get gas. It’s tremendous inefficient and harmful,” LeBaron would later comment, having lastly made it again to the relative security of his residence.
However the marketing campaign was lastly over. There was nothing extra for him to do apart from anticipate the result of Sunday’s election — and see the place life would take him subsequent.
