Colosio Assassination Inquiry Ends

After one of the most exhaustive investigations in Mexican history, authorities Friday closed the books on the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio, saying a convicted gunman was the lone culprit.

“There has been no impunity in the investigation into the homicide of Luis Donaldo Colosio,” declared special prosecutor Luis Raul Gonzalez.

The slaying of Colosio, who had been expected to win the presidency, left the nation stunned and grief-stricken, much as the assassination of President Kennedy rocked the United States in 1963.

Like the Kennedy case, Colosio’s killing prompted widespread speculation of a plot with political overtones. The March 23, 1994, assassination occurred as Colosio’s party, the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, was racked by a power struggle.

But authorities said that, after conducting 1,993 interviews and compiling 68,543 pages of evidence from witnesses, suspects and experts--ranging from the FBI to nuclear scientists--there was no evidence to implicate anyone beyond Mario Aburto Martinez, the convicted gunman.

At a packed news conference, senior officials of the Mexican attorney general’s office said Aburto was a paranoid megalomaniac who harbored grudges against politicians because of his own failure to succeed. The former factory employee is serving a 45-year murder sentence.

“The report we are presenting today is an extremely important document for the history of modern Mexico,” said Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar.

He acknowledged that many Mexicans remain deeply skeptical about the investigation but added, “We want the opinion of every person to be based on reliable information, proof, evidence.”

He said the massive investigation results, bound in 174 books, will be made available immediately to President-elect Vicente Fox, who takes office Dec. 1. Fox has said he will establish a Transparency Commission to investigate a series of massacres and killings that occurred during the 71-year rule of the PRI.

Colosio was shot twice as he was leaving a campaign rally in an impoverished neighborhood not far from the Tijuana airport. His campaign manager, Ernesto Zedillo, succeeded him as candidate and won the 1994 presidential election.

Authorities initially insisted that Colosio was the victim of a plot involving at least seven people. But Gonzalez, the last of four special prosecutors for the probe, said no firm evidence had emerged to implicate anyone other than the gunman.

“We can’t rule out that someone, knowing what he [Aburto] was like, encouraged or persuaded him to carry out the crime,” said the prosecutor, who is an assistant attorney general. “But until now we haven’t found any indications of this, despite doing an exhaustive investigation.”

He said some of the mysterious elements of the case had logical explanations. For example, some of the 15 people related to the Colosio case who were killed in recent years were anti-narcotics police who had incurred the wrath of drug traffickers.

Upon taking over the Colosio case in 1996, Gonzalez had announced that he would pursue 27 separate investigations into motives for the killing, including a plot by drug traffickers or a political feud between Colosio and former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who left office in 1994.

No evidence has emerged to support either theory, he said Friday.

Despite the detailed investigation, there were signs that many Mexicans still have their doubts. Colosio’s father, Luis, a recently elected PRI senator, rejected the conclusions. Agustin Basave, a political scientist who had been a close advisor to Colosio, said the investigation was marred by irregularities and errors in the early part of the probe.

“This is very close to being the perfect crime,” he said.