Luis Donaldo Colosio
Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta (Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, February 10, 1950-Tijuana, Baja California, March 23, 1994) was a Mexican politician and economist, member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), who served as a representative, senator, party president and head of the Social Development Secretariat of Mexico. He was a candidate for the Presidency of Mexico for the PRI until his assassination.
Beginnings and political career
He was the son of Luis Colosio Fernández and Armida Ofelia Murrieta, who settled in the current state of Sonora.[citation required]
In 1967, he began his professional studies at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, obtaining a bachelor's degree in economics in 1972. Likewise, he studied master's degrees in rural development and urban economics, between 1975 and 1976 in the University of Pennsylvania and, in 1979, did a research stay at IIASA, in Laxenburg, Austria. In 1980, he worked as a professor of economics at the Colegio de México in Monterrey NL, the UNAM and the Anahuac University. In the latter institution he met Diana Laura Riojas Reyes, whom he married in 1982. Two children were born from the marriage, Luis Donaldo (1985) and Mariana (1993). Diana Laura passed away from cancer on November 18, 1994.
He joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party in 1979, being elected deputy in 1985 and later senator in 1988. He was national president of the PRI from 1988 to 1992. During his tenure, the PRI acknowledged defeat in a gubernatorial election for the first time, in this case, that of the state of Baja California in 1989, Ernesto Ruffo Appel being elected candidate of the National Action Party, as the first non-PRI governor.[citation required]
Called by President Carlos Salinas de Gortari to join the presidential cabinet on April 13, 1992, Luis Donaldo Colosio became Secretary of Social Development, replacing Veracruz gubernatorial candidate Patricio Chirinos Calero. Colosio actively participated in the Salinas presidential succession, along with two strong contenders; Pedro Aspe Armella, Secretary of the Treasury, and Manuel Camacho Solís, head of the Department of the Federal District, who broke the unwritten rules of presidential succession in Mexico by refusing to publicly express his support for Colosio, who was nominated for the Presidency of the Republic on November 28, 1993.
Speech of March 6, 1994
The speech given by Colosio in front of the Monument to the Mexican Revolution, in Mexico City, on March 6, 1994, on the anniversary of the PRI, is considered a break with the then president of Mexico, Carlos Salinas de Gortari and a reassessment of neoliberal politics. Colosio's message speaks of a Mexico that is wronged and in crisis, hungry, with deep social differences, but with the hope of transformations. Although Salinas de Gortari agreed with the content of the speech, the Monterrey newspaper El Norte recorded the pressure made by the head of the office of the presidency José María Córdoba Montoya to resign. Córdoba Montoya denied the version, and after Colosio's assassination, he took up a position at the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Development Bank, apparently with the consent of Ernesto Zedillo. Córdoba Montoya would not be tried or even investigated, during Zedillo's six-year term, for his alleged links to drug trafficking in the telephone conversations leaked to the press with Marcela Bodenstedt (with whom Córdoba would have an affair), a former police officer with ties to the cartel of the Gulf of García Abrego.
"I see a Mexico of indigenous communities, who can no longer wait for the demands of justice, dignity and progress; of indigenous communities who have the great strength of their cohesion, of their culture and who are willing to believe, to participate, to build new horizons.
"I see a Mexico with hunger and thirst for justice. A Mexico of people aggrieved by the distortions imposed on the law which should serve it. Women and men afflicted by abuse by the authorities or by the arrogance of government offices.
"As a party to stability and social justice, we are ashamed to warn that we were not sensitive to the great demands of our communities; that we were not next to them in their aspirations; that we were not up to the commitment they expected from us. We have to assume this self-criticism and we have to break with the practices that made us a rigid organization. We have to overcome the attitudes that weaken our capacity for innovation and change. [...] Let us begin by affirming our identity, our militant pride and affirm our independence from the government. "
Colosio was assassinated on March 23, 1994.
Murder
After a beginning of the campaign affected by the effects of the uprising of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, on January 1, 1994, Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta arrived on March 23 of that same year, around 4:00 p.m.: 05, Pacific time, to the Abelardo L. Rodríguez airport in the city of Tijuana, Baja California. .
The first place to visit would be the popular neighborhood Lomas Taurinas, one of the many irregular settlements in the city of Tijuana. On a sloping esplanade, on La Punta street, an improvised temple was placed, mounted on a truck.
About four thousand people gathered to see the candidate in the so-called «Act of Unity»; four local speakers participated before Luis Donaldo Colosio closed the event with his speech.
At 17:08 (UTC -8), Colosio got off the stage and walked to his truck surrounded by a small personal escort.
At 5:12 p.m., when Colosio had walked about 13 and a half meters on the esplanade, one of the rally attendees broke through the security fence, placed a.38-caliber Taurus revolver near the candidate's right ear and shot. A second shot hit Colosio in the abdomen, who fell to the ground unconscious, bleeding from the head. In the midst of the confusion, the security group captured a 23-year-old man, with a slim complexion, dark complexion, and curly hair, dressed in jean pants and a black jacket.
Security picked up Colosio and took him to his truck. At 5:20 p.m., the candidate entered the emergency area of the Tijuana General Hospital unconscious. Various maneuvers were carried out to try to save the patient's life, but it was medically and clinically impossible due to the seriousness of the head injury. Despite all the human and medical efforts that were made, Luis Donaldo Colosio died at 6:55 p.m. on March 23, 1994.
The alleged perpetrator of the shots, identified as Mario Aburto Martínez, 23 years old, originally from Michoacán and living in Tijuana for eight years, was immediately detained by those who surrounded the candidate at the time of the attack and was placed under arrest. disposition of the authorities. Mario Aburto would be interrogated by Manlio Fabio Beltrones on the night of the murder; However, there were rumors that the person presented to the press in the days after the event had a military haircut, had a less brown complexion, had no marks from the blows and bruises suffered on his face, and seemed to be more obese than the person revealed moments after the attack, triggering a series of rumors about the authenticity and possible replacement of the real murderer.
Different versions indicate the existence of a State conspiracy, however, the official version only indicates the participation of Aburto in the homicide.
After his death
With only four months to go before the election, the PRI found itself in a bind by failing to meet the constitutional requirement that no presidential candidate may hold public office during the six months prior to election day; this immediately disqualified the entire cabinet, where most of the potential replacements were. Among the few potential candidates available, Carlos Salinas de Gortari, whom many point to as the instigator of the assassination, ultimately chose Ernesto Zedillo, who had resigned as Secretary of Public Education to serve as Colosio's campaign coordinator. This stroke of luck for Zedillo raised even more rumors of the collusion or the so-called "dedazo presidencial".
Six months later, on September 28, 1994, Salinas de Gortari's brother-in-law, José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, former governor of the state of Guerrero and secretary general of the PRI, was also assassinated in Mexico City, thus eliminating two of the most visible and powerful heads of the PRI in Mexico, Colosio and Ruiz Massieu. Ultimately, Zedillo was elected president, becoming the last president in a 71-year sequence during which all of Mexico's presidents had been elected by the PRI.
On November 18, 1994, eight months after Colosio's murder, his wife, Diana Laura Riojas, died of pancreatic cancer.
Pop Culture
- In 2012 a film produced by Carlos Bolado was directed. The film is entitled Colosio: The Murderexploited the aftermath of the candidate's murder and several conspiracy theories. It notes that two investigations were conducted and details the 15 associates who were killed after the investigation, as well as widespread violence and riots. Colosio is played by the actor Enoc Leaño.
- In 2019 Netflix released coverage of events prior to and after Colosio's murder of criminal drama History of a Crime: Colossus. Colosio is played by actor Jorge A. Jiménez.
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