Fernando Villavicencio assassination facilitated by security failures
Tom Rogan
Video Embed
Evoking memories of Pablo Escobar’s assassination of Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan in 1989, Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was gunned down outside of a campaign event on Wednesday.
Video records numerous shots ringing out as Villavicencio entered the back seat of a vehicle. Villavicencio had faced escalating threats in recent months by drug cartels, including the powerful Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel. That cartel retains global links, including with foreign governments such as that of Albania. Villavicencio had also accused politicians associated with former left-wing President Rafael Correa of colluding with the cartels. The front-runner to win Ecuador’s presidential election in August is former Correa minister Luisa Gonzalez.
WHY RUSSIA WOULD BE FOOLISH TO ASSASSINATE ZELENSKY, AND UKRAINE FOOLISH TO ASSASSINATE PUTIN
As with the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, Villavicencio’s assassination shows stark failings on the part of his protective detail. Watch the video below.
https://twitter.com/FreedomHonor666/status/1689658493597265920
First, there’s the crowd control concern. There’s essentially no separating of Villavicencio from the crowds. The segregation of a protectee from unscreened members of a crowd is critical in that an assassin may use a crowd for cover to gain proximity to the target.
As an extension, the police officers and at least one soldier stationed by the crowd are looking toward Villavicencio rather than at the crowd itself. This makes them near-pointless when the attack first begins. They were not in a position to anticipate a threat in the crowd or respond rapidly to it. Contrast this approach with that of the U.S. Secret Service. You’ll notice that whenever one of its protectees leaves an event, the Secret Service and local police will station personnel looking toward the crowd rather than toward the protectee. Only the last resort “cover and evacuate” elements of the detail will be physically covering and looking at the protectee as they move.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Then there’s the protective detail itself. A mix of plainclothes and uniformed police officers, the detail moves Villavicencio toward the car but does not provide full 360-degree coverage for him at all times. They duck and take cover as the shots ring out, allowing the assassins to fire more bullets at Villavicencio. As unconventional as it might sound, an effective protective detail is trained to stand on the sound of shots, putting themselves between the line of fire and the protectee. That didn’t happen here.
Finally, there’s the vehicle. Villavicencio enters what is clearly an unarmored car. Considering the established threats he faced, this choice of vehicle was inexcusable. Had the car been armored, it is possible Villavicencio may have survived this attack. The car door is open for less than a second after the first shots ring out, suggesting at least some bullets struck the candidate after traveling through the car’s windows or frame. The utility of an armored car is not simply in its mitigation of penetrating gunfire or explosives, but as a stronghold that a protectee can be moved to in the event of an attack or crisis. This is why the Secret Service always has vehicles close to a protectee, with an agent holding the backseat door open. This happens even when the protectee is not intending to enter the vehicle.
In sum, this terrible tragedy might well have been prevented.