Mystery Of The Second Shooter Candidate For Mexican President Luis Donaldo Colosio

Luis Donaldo Colosio (Sumber: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The political world in Mexico heated up when Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, one of the presidential candidates, was assassinated during a campaign. The presidential candidate from the then ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party was assassinated in Tijuana, Baja California.

Mario Aburto Martínez, the murderer has been sentenced to 42 years in prison. Even so, many Mexicans believe he is not the main actor, but only a field executor controlled by a puppeteer. Until now, the figure behind Colosio's murder is still a mystery.

On March 23, 1994, Colosio arrived in Tijuana for the presidential election campaign. At that time the political map was on his side. It can be ascertained that Colosio won the general election.

At that time, Colosio arrived at the campaign site, in a slum area in Lomas Taurinas, Tijuana, without tight security. Colosio used to do this.

Arriving at the campaign site, he greeted and chatted with local residents. An hour later, suddenly two shots were fired at Colosio. The first shot went through the head. The second shot crashed into Colosio's stomach.

Colosio was then rushed to the Tijuana Hospital. Unfortunately, medical assistance could not save Colosio's life. He died at the age of 44 years.

An eye witness, Lomas Taurinas, recounted the events that had happened before him. He witnessed the presidential candidate he supported collapsed during his campaign.

Like most Mexicans, Turinas believes Colosio's murder is a conspiracy. "Surely this is a conspiracy," said Taurinas, written by the San Diego Tribune.

The woman also remembers very well the situation at the time of the incident. As gunfire broke out in the air, hundreds of supporters who had watched Colosio's campaign scrambled to find a place to save themselves.

Two-way bullets

At that time, from the direction of the crowd, a man named Mario Aburto Martínez was secured by the crowd because gunshots were heard that were said to have come from him. The young man, who was then 24 years old, was immediately arrested. He admitted before the court that he shot Colosio of his own accord.

After a long investigation and investigation, the authorities stated that Aburto was the sole perpetrator of Colosio's murder. However, many people don't believe it.

They think someone else is involved in the Colosio murder scenario. Aburto is not alone. Not without reason. The results of the investigation indicated that the two bullets that had pierced Colosio's body came from opposite directions.

Miguel Montes, one of the prosecutors who handled this murder case also stated so. Bullets come from different directions, he said. This means that there are other actors who took part in killing Colosio's life.

The authorities have started to reject this view. They claimed the perpetrator was mentally ill, a reason that for them made the most sense as to why someone would want to kill a presidential candidate in the middle of a campaign. Moreover, according to authorities, Aburto insisted on killing Colosio on his own initiative.

Other theories emerged. Some people think Colosio's death is closely related to the drug cartel as the mastermind behind the murder. Quoted from the book Down by the River: Drugs, Money, Murder, and Family by Charles Bowden, one of the top Mexican police officers who often deal with drug cartels, Guillermo González Calderoni stated that the murder of the presidential candidate was related to Arrellano Félix Cartel.

In fact, he called the cartel responsible for Colosio's murder. The reason is that Aburto is suspected of having a relationship with the drug trafficking organization. However, the authorities rejected that view again. According to them, there is not enough evidence to support the correctness of this theory.

Colosio murder illustration mural (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Others, there are theories and allegations that Colosio's killing involved an internal Institutional Revolutionary Party. Indeed, at that time Colosio often criticized his own party.

For example, on March 6, 1994. During a speech at the Mexican Revolution Monument, Colosio said that corruption and impunity had undermined the Institutional Revolutionary Party which was then in power.

“I see Mexico hungry and thirsty for justice. Suffering from abuse of authority or by arrogance of the government, "said Colosio.

The speech that satirized the government was seen as a moment of his split with President Carlos Salinas de Gortari who was in charge at the time. Carlos is also known as an official of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

17 days after the controversial speech, Colosio was assassinated. This very short distance of time has raised suspicions that it was the party's internal forces that killed the presidential candidate.

After Colosio's assassination, Ernesto Zedillo, Colosio's campaign manager, was elected as the presidential candidate of the new International Revolutionary Party. He then won the general election and served as president until 2000.

Until now Colosio's death is still shrouded in various speculations and mysteries, especially regarding the motive and who was the real mastermind of the murder. The majority of Mexicans do not believe that Aburto, a man who authorities say has a disorder, killed on his own accord.