Mexican security consultant who worked for US State Department killed in cartel ambush

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican security consultant who recently did contract work for the U.S. State Department has been shot and killed in what appears to have been a cartel ambush at a restaurant in Guadalajara.

The brazen killing took place Friday night after 9:00 p.m. as the man, César Guzman, was dining with two fellow instructors with whom he had just completed a security and intelligence training course for police from Jalisco state, according to Arturo Fontes, a retired FBI agent who worked with Guzman.

Fontes, in a message posted on LinkedIn, said he and Guzman over the past two years taught counter-drug classes to Mexican police officers for the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement in Mexico City and Queretaro state.

Carlos Amador, the former undersecretary of security for Hidalgo state, was also killed, Fontes said. A third instructor, Pablo Cajigal, the former secretary of security for Chihuahua state, is in critical condition.

“They were true heroes — some of the bravest individuals I have ever known,” Fontes wrote, saying that he had just celebrated Guzman’s 50th birthday a week ago.

Local news reports said the men were dining at a local taco joint when unidentified gunmen shot at them before fleeing in a red Nissan.

The U.S. consulate in Guadalajara, in a statement, said the men were not currently working for the diplomatic mission. It declined to provide further details about their past affiliation with the State Department, citing security and privacy limitations.

“We are deeply concerned about any act of violence and express our condolences to the victims and their families,” the consulate said.