Mexico News Daily online - 1994: Power, Rebellion & Crime in Mexico TV -
Who Killed Luis Donaldo Colosio? 25 years later, Mexicans still wonder: A man confessed to the murder but many doubt the true story has come out: Twenty-five years ago today, Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, presidential candidate for the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana, Baja California.
Only one man, Mario Aburto Martínez, was convicted of Colosio’s murder. He was sentenced to 42 years in prison.
But millions of Mexicans doubted or outright rejected that he was the mastermind of, or even committed, the crime.
Twenty-five years later, people continue to deny that Aburto is the true culprit. Most fingers instead point at the PRI – an inside job against a candidate who was trying to shake things up a little too much and made some powerful enemies in the process.
On March 23, 1994, Colosio arrived in Tijuana on the campaign trail for that year’s presidential election, which he was almost certain to win.
According to journalists covering the campaign, the rally in the poor Tijuana neighborhood of Lomas Taurinas at which Colosio was shot was not originally on the candidate’s itinerary for that day.
At around 4:00pm, Colosio arrived – without an excessive security entourage – at the venue that would host the rally.
He appeared to be in a good mood, smiling and greeting the people who had gathered to hear him speak. Just over an hour later, he was shot twice, first in the head and seconds later in the abdomen.
The 44-year-old candidate was rushed to a Tijuana hospital but hours later he was pronounced dead.
A man – supposedly Aburto – was arrested at the scene of the crime but many people believe that a different man – the real Aburto – was convicted of the crime. In other words, the killer was replaced with an innocent man.
After a long and seemingly comprehensive investigation – and a confession by Aburto – the federal government declared that the 22-year-old was the sole culprit, although many people suspected that there were two gunmen. Mexico News Daily online article 23 March 2019
Suddenly a young man lunged towards the bus steps from the outside, screaming, They got Colosio! They got Colosio! 1994: Power, Rebellion & Crime in Mexico III: The Snake, woman, Netflix 2019
I saw him on the ground bleeding profusely as well as someone being detained. ibid. man
Immediately, people started to speculate that the crime had been ordered from the top. 1994: Power, Rebellion & Crime in Mexico IV: Eagle Knight
The self-confessed murderer was trialled and convicted to 40 years in jail; he remained alive despite his confession. ibid.