Mexican prosecutors revisit theory of second shooter in Luis Donaldo Colosio murder
Nearly 30 years after the PRI candidate’s assassination, Mexico’s Attorney General refutes the claim that killer Mario Aburto acted alone
The murder of Luis Donaldo Colosio remains an open case three decades after the presidential candidate was gunned down. The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is investigating a new lead in the murder that happened on March 23, 1994, in Tijuana (Baja California). The FGR revealed on January 29 that charges have been filed against Jorge Antonio Sánchez Ortega, a former employee of CISEN, Mexico’s defunct civilian intelligence agency. Sánchez had been assigned to Colosio’s security team during his presidential campaign. The FGR also implicated Genaro García Luna, then the deputy operations director at CISEN, currently facing drug trafficking charges in the U.S. The reopened case challenges the theory that killer Mario Aburto acted alone. Aburto has since claimed that he confessed under torture.
The judge overseeing the FGR’s new allegations — Alberto Chávez Hernández — dismissed them and did not recommend proceeding to trial. The FGR maintains that the evidence against Sánchez Ortega shows his presence at the crime scene “within seconds of the shots being fired.” The FGR also presented blood test evidence of Colosio’s blood on Sánchez’s clothes, even though Sánchez was not involved in transporting Colosio to the hospital after the attack. The FGR also claimed evidence of Sánchez firing a weapon, supported by multiple testimonies of his escape from the crime scene.
The FGR asserts that García Luna hid Sánchez after the murder and subsequently orchestrated his “hasty and secret escape” from Tijuana. The FGR said it would appeal the judge’s ruling, and accused him of obstructing justice as well as making “personal” remarks against Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The case has been reopened by a special prosecutor’s office headed by Abel Galván. Following Aburto’s allegations of torture, President López Obrador ordered a new investigation 30 years after the murder. Critics of the government suspect political motives behind reopening the investigation, especially during the crucial presidential and legislative elections later this year.
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