Witness in Mexico protection program killed

“It’s risky being a so-called protected witness, especially when the targets of the criminal investigations are members of powerful Mexican drug cartels and dirty cops.

The government’s witness protection program faced new questions Wednesday after the fatal shooting in a Starbucks of a former federal police commander who turned informant after his arrest last year for suspected drug ties.

Edgar Enrique Bayardo reportedly had been providing Mexican authorities with information on traffickers based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa before he died Tuesday in a hail of gunfire here in the capital.

Federal officials confirmed that Bayardo was a ‘collaborating witness,’ but declined to provide more details. Mexico City authorities said Bayardo was hit by at least six bullets when a pair of attackers burst into the Starbucks in a well-to-do neighborhood called Del Valle.”

(Source: Witness in Mexico protection program killed — latimes.com)