Mexico: PRI Candidate Colosio Murder Case Should Be Reopened

On Tuesday, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) asked the Mexican Attorney General’s Office to reopen the investigations into the murder of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presidential candidate who was assassinated in Tijuana in 1994.

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The CNDH made this request since the then Federal Judicial Police and the Federal Public Ministry tortured Mario Aburto to make him confess his responsibility for the crime. This citizen has been in prison for 27 years.

The human rights defenders recalled that the interview of the police authorities with Aburto was not recorded in the official documents of that time.

Besides affirming that he is a victim of a political conspiracy, Aburto claims that there is evidence that could absolve him if the case were reopened. For example, although Colosio was killed with a revolver whose shell remains inside the weapon, the police found a shell at the crime scene.

"If there was a shell on the ground, it was because someone wanted it there," said Aburto, who has maintained that he is innocent all these years.

Since 1994, the authorities have moved Aburto to several prisons seeking to avoid good communication with his relatives and lawyers. These changes have frequently occurred unexpectedly and without complying with all relevant legal procedures.

Colosio's driver, Othon Cortez, who was also detained and accused of the murder of the PRI candidate, also stated that he was tortured to force him to plead guilty. Cortez was released, however, after spending two years in prison.