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Home invasions in Vilcabamba: The U.S. State Department takes notice

cccmedia

Following the latest home invasion in Vilcabamba --

which claimed the life of a Colorado native named

Francesca Williams and left two other adults in her

household injured -- the U.S. Consulate of Ecuador

has guidance for other Expats.


The  Consulate has put out a statement saying that

while violent home invasions against Expats in Ecuador

are rare, there has been an increase in such invasions

in Vilcabamba in the southern part of the country,

including four such invasions in recent years

that resulted in a fatality.


In the latest incident, armed men showed up at the

Williams' farm, injured Mrs. Williams' husband and

father-in-law, and shot her twice in the back when she

attempted to intervene.  The Williams' three teenage

daughters who were at the farm were not injured.



Source...

See also

Retirement in EcuadorImmigration question, please helpRequirements to visit EcuadorAbout invitation letter to EcuadorCedula/ Birth Cerfificate
DocRob1

And this is why you need to be prepared to defend yourself with deadly force. While linking arms and singing kumbaya is nice, the only thing that will prevent you from becoming a victim of violent attacks like these is having a firearm and knowing how to use it. Sadly these times in which we live dicate the necessity to take lives in defense of yours or another. May God bless you all.

Jean-Robert145156

I read an article a few weeks back that said, at the time it was written in 2019 I believe, Cuenca and Vilcabamba has the same amount of home invasions involving expats over the same period of time. This is interesting given that Vilca is much smaller than Cuenca. It says it may be the case because ex-pats down there tend to live separate from the ppl and flash their wealth. I also think it may be because of the location. Isolated wealth. Stay frosty.

Kaceschi

when you say there was in increase, can someone give some actual numbers? When was the last time they had a home invasion? I tried to get that information online, but there doesn't seem to be any information that I can find anyways.

cccmedia

The Williams murder occurred on May 20, 2023,

according to the article I cited from

...


The article is dated June 2, 2023.

The headline is in a group of ³Ùí³Ù³Ü±ô´Ç²õ

and says Vilcabamba Expat is murdered.


cccmedia

user159

And this is why you need to be prepared to defend yourself with deadly force. While linking arms and singing kumbaya is nice, the only thing that will prevent you from becoming a victim of violent attacks like these is having a firearm and knowing how to use it. Sadly these times in which we live dicate the necessity to take lives in defense of yours or another. May God bless you all.
-@DocRob1


Unsure how you work that out. The article states she was shot trying to intervene. I can remember another invasion that led to a death previously, where an elderly gentleman did have a fireman and started shooting, unfortunately the thieves were a better aim and he was killed.


In both instances, both people would still be alive if they just let them steal the television.


I know a lot of you think you are John Wayne, but fact is, you're not. Outnumbered, outgunned in a foreign country with laws you probably don't fully understand.

cccmedia

both people would still be alive if they just let them steal the television.

I know a lot of you think you are John Wayne, but fact is, you're not. Outnumbered, outgunned in a foreign country with laws you probably don't fully understand.
-@user159


Kudos to User 159. The last two sentences make this one of the best posts of the year on ½ûÂþÌìÌà threads.


cccmedia

antialiased

@Kaceschi Home invasions have been more common in this region anyway, but the difference is that now they often result in injuries and hospitalizations. Can't tell you a count because I don't keep track, but they show up on the Vilca expat facebook group rather often for a expat population of only about 1k people. Also, 3 expat families (including mine) lived on my road about half an hour from Vilcabamba and one recently sold their house, presumably because of a violent home invasion that sent at least one person to the hospital.

rkg695

CCCMedia… agreed. As it’s been pointed out by many others on this forum, Ecuador is a relatively peaceable country. The escalation of gun ownership will result in some unpleasant consequences, don’t resist just hand over whatever a robber is looking for, it’s not worth your life. Recent changes in the judicial and law-enforcement cultures in Ecuador have gone a long way to empower the police to use force where it’s justified without retribution for simply doing their jobs. Combined with improved cooperation between police and citizenry, the result as you’ve noted in another posting, has been a very marked decrease in crime in Cuenca. And we’re starting to see the effectiveness of the presidents move to bring in the military along the coast to thwart the attempt by Mexican, Colombian and Peruvian gangs to import their drug war to Ecuador, and use of the ports in Guayaquil and elsewhere as a transhipment point for drugs to the US, Canada, and Europe.


And while it’s fortunate that Ecuador actually has gun control, as many rational democracies around the world do, proliferation of weaponry (& lack of gun control) is responsible for an increase murder rates, crime of opportunity, random shootings… Whereas efforts to keep guns out of the hands of every untrained and edgy homeowner result in fewer unintended or unfortunate deaths, despite the politically driven assertations of some nations:


â€Measures requiring that gun purchasers complete a firearm safety training course and an application, including fingerprinting, at their local police department… background check and examine… records to help ensure that the purchaser is not a clear danger to themselves or others based on a pattern of violent behavior… associated with a 33% reduction in the gun suicide rate and a 28% reduction in the gun homicide rate over a 22-year period.… licensing associated with a 56% decrease in the incidence of fatal mass shootings.â€


Source:



Also: “Mass Shootings by countryâ€;


â¤ï¸â€ðŸ©¹ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸â˜ ï¸ 101 To Dec.31, 2019… 200+ in the US in the first 4 months of 2023 = Avg. 1+ per week.

Lax gun regulations in “some†🗽countries may contribute to the prevalence of mass shootings. In countries with stricter gun laws and countries where guns are illegal, there tend to be “fewer†mass shootings per capita.

Source: