New Prosecutors Probe Conspiracy in Colosio Case, Sources Say

The murder of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was a conspiracy after all, the fourth team of prosecutors investigating the assassination appears to have determined.

Relying on basically the same evidence that two previous special prosecutors used in deducing that triggerman Mario Aburto Martinez acted alone on March 23, the new investigators have reached a radically different conclusion, according to sources close to the case.

Special prosecutor Pedro Chapa is said to be proceeding with the theory advanced by federal police immediately after Colosio was shot following a campaign rally in Tijuana: The candidate died as a result of a conspiracy.

Chapa earlier this week brought formal charges of conspiracy to murder against Tranquilino Sanchez, one of three men who have languished in jail since April, when they were arrested as Aburto’s co-conspirators, the attorney general’s office confirmed.

Aburto was sentenced last year to 42 years in prison, but there had been no previous indication of progress in the trials of the three other men. Judge Alejandro Sosa refused defense lawyers’ requests that charges be dismissed against Vicente and Rodolfo Mayoral, a father and son accused in the alleged conspiracy.

In addition, investigators are now reported to be considering the possibility that a second gun was shot at Colosio.

Still, criminal lawyers cautioned against reading too much into the prosecutor’s actions. Mexican law limits the time prosecutors have to present formal charges, which come at the end of a trial here. Facing a deadline, Chapa had to present conclusions accusing Sanchez or drop the charges.

Sources close to the investigation said that Chapa may have felt pressured to push for a conviction because the lone gunman theory has met with widespread skepticism.

Evidence against Sanchez and the Mayorals, all members of the crowd-control team, consists mainly of videotapes showing them pushing and shoving as Aburto makes his way through the crowd.

Aburto’s friend Graciela Gonzalez told police that she saw him talking with Sanchez in a park less than two weeks before the murder. Other witnesses have said they saw the two men talking before the rally.