Assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio

Background

Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (10 February 1950 – 23 March 1994) was a Mexican politician and economist who served in several senior roles within the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), including as a federal deputy, senator for Sonora, chairman of the PRI's National Executive Committee, and Social Development Secretary under President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. In 1993, he was selected as the PRI's presidential candidate for the 1994 election (Source 1).

On 6 March 1994, Colosio delivered a speech in Mexico City, in front of the Monument to the Mexican Revolution, addressing indigenous communities, government abuse, and independence from government influence — remarks widely considered to mark a break with President Salinas. Speculation had circulated that former foreign secretary Manuel Camacho might replace Colosio as the PRI's candidate; Camacho announced he would not run, and Colosio was killed the following day (Source 1).

The Assassination

At approximately 5:05 pm local time on 23 March 1994, at a campaign rally in Lomas Taurinas, a low-income neighborhood of Tijuana, Baja California, Colosio was shot in the head with a .38 Special revolver that had originally been purchased in San Francisco. He collapsed at the scene; plans to fly him to a hospital in the United States were canceled, and he was instead taken to Tijuana's main hospital, where his death was announced hours later. Eyewitness accounts of the shooting have remained contradictory. Colosio received three bullet wounds, and it was never conclusively established whether all shots came from a single shooter (Source 1).

Mario Aburto Martínez was arrested at the scene and consistently maintained that he had acted alone. Authorities were criticized for showering, shaving, and giving Aburto a prison haircut before presenting him to media, fueling public doubts about whether the man shown was the same person arrested. The case was formally closed after multiple prosecutors handled the investigation, though controversy over its conduct has continued. Aburto has been held at the La Palma high-security facility in Almoloya de Juárez (Source 1).

Aftermath and Theories

Conspiracy theories about the assassination include claims of involvement by narcotraffickers and, most prominently among the Mexican public, a theory that Colosio was betrayed by figures within his own party, possibly including President Salinas, given the political tensions following Colosio's March 6 speech. Salinas publicly called the killing an "act of infamy." On 18 November 1994, Colosio's widow, Diana Laura Riojas, died of what was officially reported as pancreatic cancer while she had been investigating her husband's murder (Source 1).

The vacancy in the PRI candidacy led to the selection of Ernesto Zedillo, Colosio's former campaign manager, who went on to be elected president. Months later, PRI president José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Salinas's brother-in-law, was also murdered. Colosio's father published a book in 2004 examining the case before his death in 2010. In 2021, Colosio's son publicly stated he forgave "the cowards" responsible for his father's death (Source 1).