Protected witnesses forsake their destiny for justice

Sol Prendido Borderland Beat from Jornada

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Mexico City. Incarcerated, given for dead, without identity, in prostitution or destitution, it has been the fate of some protected witnesses in which the system of law enforcement in Mexico based its accusations.

Even now, although the Attorney General's Office (FGR) depends on them to support the accusations against dozens or hundreds of members of organized crime, the appointment to testify in various criminal cases without guaranteeing their safety and that of their family’s , because they were discharged from the collaborating witness program.

There were 379 collaborators

During the administration of Felipe Calderón, the then Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) abused the figure until it reached 379 collaborating witnesses who were given an amount of 26,000 pesos a month as part of the agreements. During this period, the PGR spent 101 million 332 thousand pesos for the program.

In the first three years of the government of Enrique Peña Nieto, the PGR considerably reduced the use of collaborating witnesses; in that period they poured 41 million pesos to support 98 witnesses. The list went down until they had only 11 who continued to go to proceedings.

Several articles of the federal laws for the protection of people involved in the federal criminal process against organized crime, organic law of the Attorney General of the Republic and the National Code of Criminal Procedures, have been violated by the Public Ministry of the Federation by not protecting the identity of witnesses.

Such is the case of the key witness Venus who attends proceedings without a permanent escort; even, her real name appears in criminal cases.

Venus was discharged from the program in July 2010, she had testified against 400 people. In May 2015 she received notification that she was discharged from the program, thereby losing all benefits such as monthly payment and security; however, she was still required by the Federal Public Ministry as a collaborating witness. Since her retirement, she has participated in 70 proceedings without having the protection indicated by the laws; of those cases, 20 cases are new cases in which the Public Ministry of the Federation considers her a witness

 

72 migrants slaughtered in Tamps

One of the most recent appointments occurred on February 14, when it was requested by the Attorney General of the Republic for a hearing of Salvador Martínez Escobedo's brother, La Ardilla, for the process in the disappearance of the 72 migrants in San Fernando, Tamaulipas.

On the other hand, the witness Conde caused the cancellation of the program in August 2013, however he went to five proceedings without the security measures. After dropping him, they left him to his fate. "I worked on different things without identity. They asked me for identification, but I did not have it because they told me I had a pending legal process. I worked as a bartender, plumber, gardener ... in whatever I could. 

What we had been promised in the beginning in the Deputy Attorney General's Office for the Investigation of Organized Crime (Seido), such as changing our names, relocating to another city and even getting us a job, they never did it, "says Conde.

The key witness Natalia returned to prostitution; Mateo, is in prison without knowing if he is charged or a witness; Sérpico died of leukemia, Taurus is nowhere to be found, Nemesis was sentenced; Smurf committed suicide in a Texas prison.

It didn’t matter what organization they belonged to; the same was declared in processes against members of the cartel of Sinaloa, Los Zetas, The Gulf, La Familia Michoacana, and against military and public servants of the PGR. The so-called Operation Limpieza in PGR and Federal Police in which they declared collaborating witnesses, came down, as well as accusations against a General of the National Defense and former public servants of Michoacán