Two Mexicans Charged With Aiding Colosio Killer Cleared, Ordered Freed

Two men who have been in jail for more than a year on charges of taking part in the March, 1994, assassination of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio were cleared of the charges Friday, the government news agency Notimex reported.

A judge ordered the immediate release of Vicente Mayoral Valenzuela and his son, Rodolfo Mayoral Esquer, for lack of evidence, Notimex said. Government officials said prosecutors are sure to appeal the verdict.

The ruling left just two people in jail in the case--Mario Aburto Martinez, who confessed and was convicted in the killing, and Othon Cortes Vazquez, who denies shooting Colosio.

Aburto has been sentenced to 45 years for the murder of Colosio, the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate who was widely expected to become Mexican president.

Colosio was fatally shot in the head March 23, 1994, during a campaign rally in the Tijuana shantytown of Lomas Taurinas.

Cortes has denied firing a second shot into Colosio’s abdomen.

Friday’s ruling further undermined the case put forward by prosecutors that Colosio was the victim of a conspiracy.

With the release in April of another suspect, Tranquilino Sanchez Venegas, all the men accused of blocking Colosio’s bodyguards or clearing a way for Aburto to fire have now been freed for lack of evidence.