Colosio: Political Assassination (2026) s01e02 Episode Script
The Intellectual Author
-(BIRDS CHIRPING)
-(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(GUNSHOT)
(GUNSHOT)
ANONYMOUS OFFICER: I belonged
to the Municipal Police
of Tijuana.
I received an offer
to participate
in an extra-police operation
to provide security
for the candidate.
(GUNSHOTS)
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
The operation was called Tucán.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL ZIMBRÓN LÓPEZ:
It was a group
of former police officers,
former judicial
or ministerial agents,
which was going to assist
the General Staff
LIEUTENANT GENERAL
in order to work jointly
and provide security.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
The person who recruited us
was Rodolfo Rivapalacio,
a chief in the Judicial Police
of the State of Baja California.
FORMER BAJA CALIFORNIA
JUDICIAL POLICE OFFICER
Rodolfo Rivapalacio
was in charge of organizing
some security operations
at important PRI events.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIS
ANONYMOUS OFFICER :
They wanted to know
what knowledge we had,
and they evaluated us.
Mario Aburto knew how to shoot,
he was there, and I remember
seeing him firing.
(GUNSHOT BOOMING)
And it was the first group
that surrounded
BAJA CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
the person of Luis Donaldo.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
MIGUEL ÁNGUEL:
This group had been formed
by the logistics
of the PRI party.
I had no idea that the party
resorted to groups like this
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
and I do not know
where it may have come from.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
COLOSIO: POLITICAL ASSASSINATION
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
EPISODE 2
THE MASTERMIND
-(WIND WHOOSHING)
-(TRAFFIC BUZZING)
CARLOS SALINAS DE GORTARI:
While I was
at the presidential residence
in Mexico City,
the terrible news
that Luis Donaldo had died
was confirmed.
It was an instant
that caused me
immense sadness
because not only
was the political fact
incomprehensible
but, personally
it represented the loss
of one of my best of friends
and of someone with whom,
for more than 15 years,
we had worked together
to contribute
to the progress of Mexicans.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
14TH NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE PRI
Here is the President
of the Republic
who, by working decisively
in favor of Mexico,
strengthens the Institutional
Revolutionary Party.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Uh, I wanted Donaldo to get
the opportunity to compete
as a candidate
for the presidency
of the Republic.
To do so with the enthusiasm
of a man of the party,
with the support
that you give me today
PRI HEADQUARTERS
I propose to maintain
and deepen solidarity
as the backbone
-of our social policy.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
I would say that he was
the expected candidate,
in many senses.
For the first time since 1934
a former leader,
former president of the PRI,
was a candidate
for the presidency.
He also came from a popularly
elected position.
Let's say he had earned it
through hard work,
-in the best sense of the word.
-(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LUIS DONALDO COLOSIO MURRIETA:
Comrades of the PRI,
it is here
HIDALGO
in the heart
of the Huasteca of Hidalgo
START OF THE PRE-CAMPAIGN
IN HUEJUTLA DE REYES, HGO
where I have decided
to begin my campaign
for the presidency
of the Republic.
Colosio's ideals
were very transparent.
JOURNALIST AND POLITCAL ANALYS
He was an atypical politician.
He was not flattering,
he was not boastful.
He was truly concerned
with getting things done.
He delved deeply into problems.
The Huasteca region shows us
the most urgent tasks
that we must carry out
to consolidate
the transformation of Mexico.
He started
from self-criticism
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMEN
and the recognition
of the crisis
that the country
and the PRI was experiencing.
In the year '88, there was
an internal confrontation
between, let's say,
the precarious PRI,
the one that we all
greatly need,
and those who want to preserve
control of that party.
When an organization spends
a long time
in circumstances or situations
of power or authority,
bureaucracies and resistances
are formed
because they are accustomed
to a way of being
and they do not realize
that reality changes.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
MEXICO CITY
The strength of the government
was to a great extent
the strength of our party.
But today,
the moment is different.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LAURA ELENA COLOSIO MURRIETA:
He wanted to renew
this official party,
and he wanted to separate it
COLOSIO'S SISTER
from what was
the PRI government.
He wanted there
to be a separation.
LUIS: We propose
the reform of power
so that there may be
a new relationship
between the citizen
and the State.
At the famous meeting
of the PRI anniversary
before the assassination,
also in March
JOURNALIS
AND WITNESS OF THE ATTACK
the speech was
very anti-Salinista.
It was interpreted
in the only possible way.
It was a speech
of political rupture.
At no time was a rupture
with the government proposed,
but
rather the normal distance
that is always adopted.
Donaldo
was immersed in the project
that we were carrying out
to seek a change
of the system from within.
And it was those, the so-called
nomenclature of the PRI,
who did not view the candidacy
as normal in their eyes.
Colosio was uncomfortable
for all PRI groups.
The so-called dinosaurs
of the PRI,
Colosio did not want them
at his side.
I want to be president of Mexico
to lead this new stage
of change in Mexico.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING)
CARLOS: It seemed to me
a fiery speech,
as campaign speeches should be,
in the context
of the Chiapas uprising
and the turbulence
that it had generated.
MAN AT MARCH: Long live
the Mexican revolution!
-(CROWD CHEERS)
-(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MAN AT MARCH:
Long live the defenders
of the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation!
CROWD: Long live!
What happens? It is the event
that draws attention,
that captures the media.
No one talked about anything
but Chiapas.
One day, one week, one month,
only Chiapas was talked about.
-The campaigns disappeared.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
The start
of a presidential campaign
JOURNALIS
AND DIANA LAURA'S FRIEND
in Mexico is very important,
as in all countries.
But especially in Mexico,
with that very fresh background.
-It forced Luis Donaldo
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
to modify his strategy.
That is when,
in quotation marks,
he "breaks away" from security
and gets closer to the people.
-(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
FEDERICO ARREOLA: He said,
"What is customary
is a circle of soldiers
and another and another
and the candidate in the middle,
and he does not
approach anyone."
And Colosio said,
"Then what do I campaign for?"
I might as well do it
on television."
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
I was part of the security team
of Luis Donaldo Colosio
in the year 1994
with the rank of lieutenant.
If at a certain moment
my life had depended
STATE LIEUTENAN
on saving the candidate,
I would have done it
with great pleasure. Why?
Because psychologically we were
prepared for such an event.
The problem was
that the candidate
did not want security.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: We moved
toward Lomas Taurinas,
-we got out
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
and then you realize that
the conditions of the terrain
were not conducive
to an event or a rally
of that magnitude.
PEDRO SERRANO GANDARA:
This neighborhood represents
one of the highest crime rates,
but in addition to that
MUNICIPAL OFFICER OF TIJUANA
it had other
security-related characteristics
that were worrying.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-PEDRO: The access points,
there was no paving.
The topography of the place
was very complicated
in case of an emergency.
Internally,
you get goosebumps
because you see
that it is a risky situation.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
When we arrived there,
what I remember is
General Domiro García Reyes,
the military officer in charge
of Luis Donaldo
Colosio's security
COLOSIO'S SECURITY MANAGER
telling me that it was
a very poorly organized
and dangerous rally.
He was very upset.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: General Domiro
asks how it is possible
that they organized an event
in that place.
And I told him, "General, well,
you are the one
in charge of security."
"Well, what do you want me
to say? Well, you allowed it."
The one who organized
that entire event
was the logistics of the PRI.
And the only thing that was done
was to adjust
to the circumstances.
I do not know
who made that decision.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: The entire route
of going down
and up to the stage was titanic.
ANNOUNCER: Mr. Luis Donaldo
Colosio Murrieta!
LUIS: We are going to continue
with the organization
of grassroots committees
that you have carried out.
(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
He finishes giving the speech,
he comes down, there's an order
to form a barrier,
that barrier is not achieved.
The same mass causes you
to move along with everyone.
You cannot wait
because the people
themselves push you.
We adopted the Diamond device,
which allowed us to be
at the front, rear, and sides,
and the head of the escort
attached to the candidate.
That formation, as a rule,
we always handled,
but at two or three meters
it is impossible.
The device was open and there,
unfortunately,
we could not do anything.
So, I turn in order to advance
and continue
maintaining my position
when, at that instant,
two impacts are heard.
-(GUNSHOTS)
-(CROWD SCREAMING)
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
FEDERICO:
People were surrounding Colosio
and what I saw was
that when he was shot,
people went crazy.
Everyone was like this
They shoot and Colosio
remains there lying down.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
Then I see the candidate
has already fallen face-down,
and I approach
with my colleagues,
we turn him over and carry him
to get him out of there.
(CROWD CLAMOR CONTINUES)
With my right hand, I cover
a blood exit that he had
on his head.
We carried him to take him
to the Blazer unit.
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
Evidently, the Presidential
General Staff
was not prepared
for Colosio's security.
The result says
that that it was not.
We are human, we have feelings,
and the comments
made out of protagonism,
out of exhibitionism,
out of whatever you want,
that is frustrating
because they did not
know the facts.
Frustrating.
-(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
Before what happened
at Lomas Taurinas,
General Domiro was told
that there was going to be
alternative security,
or rather parallel to that
of the General Staff.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
It was a group of people
FORMER OFFICER OF TIJUANA
to be bodyguards,
to provide security
to the PRI candidate.
DORA ELENA CORTÉS JUÁREZ:
What drew attention here
is that they did allow a group
already popularly known
as Tucán, supposedly
supporting the security tasks.
It seems very strange to me
that the Presidential
General Staff allowed that
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
OF "EL COMPLOT"
instead of them themselves
making this ring
that is normally customary.
That is what we could not
understand at that moment.
How is it that you allow
an external group
to approach you
and you make
a group of professionals,
of loyal soldiers spread open?
That is where
it is not understood.
Domiro is the one who allowed
the Tucán group to participate.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
My general accepts things
based on instructions
and orders.
If my general had
had 100 percent authority,
then he would
automatically say no.
"We, the Presidential
General Staff,
are going to be
in charge of everything."
DORA: So, like that,
there were many little details
that we had to keep adding up,
and that is when, on March 28th,
just a few days after the events
at Lomas Taurinas occurred,
we published information
in the newspaper El Universal
COLOSIO, VICTIM OF A PLO
where we were already talking
about the possibility of a plot.
So, at the moment
that this was published,
the entire case
took a complete turn.
How is everyone doing?
Good evening.
The Office
of the Attorney General
of the Republic announced
the indictment of more detainees
allegedly related
to the Colosio case,
which points to a plot
to assassinate
the late PRI candidate.
The first to officially address
this issue is Miguel Montes.
The homicide was committed
by Mario Aburto Martínez
PRIMARY PROSECUTOR
IN THE COLOSIO CASE
assisted
by other individuals.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
In addition to Aburto
FIRST LAWYER OF MARIO ABURTO
four former agents
of the State Judicial Police
were detained,
all of them members
of the Tucán group.
REPORTER 1: As of now,
one can speak of
the simultaneous participation
of the following individuals.
Tranquilino Sánchez,
whose task consisted
of obstructing the performance
of General Domiro García Reyes,
in charge of security,
facilitating
Mario Aburto's access
to a point close to Colosio.
The task of Vicente
Mayoral Valenzuela
was to open a path
toward the victim
for a physically
identified individual.
Rodolfo Mayoral Esquer,
son of Vicente Mayoral,
contributed by pushing
and hindering
the actions of Colonel Federico
Antonio Reynaldos del Pozo.
For his part,
Rodolfo Rivapalacio was the one
who incorporated
Tranquilino Sánchez,
Vicente Mayoral,
and Rodolfo Mayoral
into the security group.
COLOSIO CASE APRIL 1994
PRISON FOR TRANQUILINO SANCHEZ,
VICENTE AND RODOLFO MAYORAL
RODOLFO RIVAPALACIO RELEASED
DUE TO LACK OF EVIDENCE
After attending to Aburto,
and signing the record
of his ministerial statement,
I was informed
that I might be able to provide
legal defense services
for Mr. Vicente Mayoral,
and he accepted
that I be his defense attorney.
He states that upon hearing
the shot, he turns around,
and still grabs the weapon.
With one of his hands
and with the other
he grabs the arm
and they turn and both fall
on top of the candidate.
And it was at that instant
when the second shot occurred.
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
I do not see that they had
a motive to go
and kill the candidate, no.
Nor to be part of a famous plot
that, in my opinion,
never existed.
So, these people eventually
obtained their freedom.
APRIL 1995 - PROSECUTION FAILS
TO PROVE INVOLVEMENT IN MURDER
I do not know
how much participation
some members of the Tucán group
may have had in a possible plot
or conspiracy,
but perhaps they were used.
MAY 1995 - MORE WITNESSES APPEAR
LINKING ABURTO TO TUCÁN GROUP
ERNESTO RUFFO APPEL:
It was not normal
for those guards
to be present at PRI events.
-I have always calculated
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
that the probability is
that it was a plot.
But I cannot prove it,
that is my speculation.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
REPORTER: In a press conference,
Ruffo Appel said that although
there is nothing conclusive,
circumstantial elements
are being found
that indicate
there was a relationship
between Tranquilino Sánchez
and Vicente Mayoral
with the alleged killer
Mario Aburto Martínez.
According to the brief
conversations I had with Aburto,
and what I heard him say,
there was no relationship at all
that he had with those
of the group they called Tucán.
DORA: Rodolfo Rivapalacio has
denied having had
a relationship
with Mario Aburto Martínez.
However, there are versions
that do link them,
that do say he had some contact,
including Mario Aburto's father,
with whom we had the opportunity
to speak in Los Angeles.
He said that he went to look
for him at the house
on some occasions
and even showed us a drawing
that Mario Aburto
supposedly made,
a two-story house
that belonged to this man.
It does give the appearance
that it could be so,
and that they could have
known each other.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
And if Mario Aburto
says that he does not know
Rivapalacio,
I do not know why,
because he does know him.
He knows Rivapalacio
perfectly well.
DORA: According to Mario Aburto,
he was coached under threat
as to what he had to say.
And accepting
that he knew him
was validating
a possible conspiracy. Why?
Because then they could link him
precisely with this group,
with the PRI.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
DORA: When they were saying
farewell to Colosio,
when the honors of departure
were being rendered,
the president arrived,
Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
The PRI members themselves
began to reproach him.
MEMBER: Mr. President,
we want justice!
-MEMBERS: Justice!
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MEMBERS: (CHANTING) Who did it?
Who did it? Who did it
DORA: There was very much
that perception
that it had been the work
of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
MEMBER 1: Let him testify!
MEMBER 2: We want peace
in the country! Mr. President!
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MEMBER 3: Let the heads roll!
It seems to me a meanness
in terms of the personal pain
that the death meant
for me. So
let them keep the malice
that poisons them.
I have enough with the pain
that Donaldo's absence
causes me.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(CROWD APPLAUDING)
UNYIELDING, MY DEMAND FOR
JUSTICE, DIANA LAURA REITERATES
FEDERICO: Diana Laura,
Colosio's wife,
thought many ugly things
about everyone.
In fact, she came to say,
"He was killed
by the bullets of betrayal."
"The system killed him."
Who? Well, I don't know.
Let's see,
the big question that those
who question this assassination
always ask me is,
"Do you think
Carlos Salinas killed
or ordered the killing
of Luis Donaldo Colosio?"
My blunt answer is, no
because the bullet
that killed Colosio
politically killed
Carlos Salinas.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LAURA SANCHEZ LEY: Many years
after the assassination,
Mario Aburto would reveal
another supposed truth.
While he was detained,
one of the agent's puts
the former president,
Carlos Salinas de Gortari,
on the phone with him,
who tells him
that he can give him benefits
if he points out
some political actors
who were behind
the assassination
of Luis Donaldo Colosio.
Salinas de Gortari
has a lot to do with this.
He washed his hands of it.
MARIO ABURTO'S BROTHER
This is a man
who cowardly attacked
Donaldo Colosio,
who committed
a reprehensible act
that deeply harmed the country,
Donaldo's family,
and me personally.
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
RAMÓN GARZA: The Sunday
before Luis Donaldo Colosio
was assassinated,
he made a tour of Monterrey.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
RAMÓN: He loved Monterrey
because they pampered him there,
because he felt it was his
second home after Sonora.
His friends, his people.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-We love you! We count on you!
RAMÓN: He went to visit
the newspaper El Norte.
He talked with us,
with editorial writers,
executives, etc.
And what happened there?
Donaldo tells me, "Hey,
Ramón Alberto, in that truck
an entrepreneur wants to give me
a donation for the campaign."
"Go discreetly, take a look,
and tell me who he is
so I can go greet him by name."
I went and looked and found
that he was not
a Monterrey businessman at all,
he was a rather
rough-looking guy.
He must have been
from organized crime.
It was obvious that he was a guy
who came with other intentions.
I went back and told Colosio,
"Listen, Donaldo, this man is
not a Monterrey businessman,
what's more,
he's not even from Monterrey."
"And be careful
because he might make you
an indecent proposal."
That's how it happened.
He left, got into the truck,
and told me, "You were right,
he was a member of a cartel
who came to offer me
the first ten million dollars
of a 30-million-dollar proposal
to put into my campaign."
"And what did you answer him?"
I asked.
"That I could not
accept anything,
that I appreciated the gesture,
but no, thank you."
And that was that.
Three days after that
Luis Donaldo was assassinated
-in Lomas Taurinas.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
But it is one episode
of what were
the multiple encounters
that occurred along the path
of his pre-candidacy
and his candidacy,
which mostly ended in clashes,
even with very prominent
politicians who operated
with and for those cartels.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JANUARY 1994 - NARCOPOLITICS
UNLEASHES VIOLENCE IN MEXICO
CARTEL INFILTRATION INTO
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES IS GROWING
THE JUDICIARY
OF BC PROTECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS
DORA: In the case of links
between politicians
and drug traffickers,
there were many comments
at the national level
about some
very high-level figures
who could be linked.
One of these
is Córdoba Montoya
HEAD OF THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
to whom great power
was attributed,
who was called
the gray eminence,
because he had
a great deal of influence
over President Carlos
Salinas de Gortari,
to the point of making decisions
without needing to consult him.
Salinas's great adviser,
the power behind the throne,
the sinister one.
And on the other hand,
someone much closer to him,
his brother
Raúl Salinas de Gortari,
a character who,
with all the power
he had for being who he was,
decided all kinds of business,
had many influences,
and there was
no shortage of those
who linked him
to drug trafficking.
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
RAMÓN:
Raúl Salinas de Gortari
BROTHER OF PRESIDENT SALINAS
is a very peculiar character
because he is the eldest son
of this Salinas family clan.
The one who, as his father
Raúl Salinas Lozano once said,
was the one who was predestined
to be president of Mexico.
I will always defend
with loyalty and patriotism
the supreme interests
of the nation.
RAMÓN: And Raúl was
an older brother who,
as we say here,
was "rebellious."
Not having the eagle's chair,
the presidential chair
that he longed for
with his father.
He ended up
being an operational arm
of many things that happened
between the government
and the business sector.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ANNOUNCER: We welcome
our candidate
for the presidency
of the Republic,
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
RAMÓN: When Colosio went
to different places
in the country to talk
with businessmen
or certain politicians,
there was a complaint that some
organized crime groups boasted
of having relationships
with Raúl Salinas.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
RAMÓN: And that eventually,
as a candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio would have
informed President Salinas
of those types of conversations,
as if to tell him,
"Tell Raúl to be attentive
because they are involving him
in issues of organized crime
and drug trafficking."
MAY 1996 - RAÚL-NARCO
CONNECTIONS COME TO LIGH
Presumably,
Carlos Salinas, as president,
would have told his brother
this message
MAY 1997 - RAÚL SALINAS
PROTECTS THE GULF CARTEL
and that message
would not have sat well at all
with Raúl Salinas de Gortari.
Luis Donaldo Colosio's
relationship with Raúl Salinas
deteriorated considerably
because Raúl Salinas wanted
to be a senator
and later governor
of Nuevo León,
and Colosio opposed it.
Obviously, Raúl Salinas
became very upset.
Raúl felt that Colosio was
already working
on his own project
far from the Salinas family,
particularly against him.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
RAMÓN:
There is a very commented on,
very published,
very debated note.
A note that speaks
of the presidency
being reached from within,
-not knocking from outside.
-(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
INTERVIEWER:
What can you tell us
about the accusations
against your brother Raúl
in the Colosio case?
If you want, later we can do
a series on that,
but I really don't see
that it is relevant here.
It is the only case
we have in modern times
of a brother of a president
of the Republic
who ends up going to prison.
Raúl Salinas de Gortari
is sentenced to 50 years
in prison for the reasons
set forth in the tenth
consideration of this ruling.
FEDERICO: When they accuse
Raúl Salinas of being
the intellectual author
of the assassination
of José Francisco Ruiz Massieu,
a friend of mine publishes it
because I was
that friend's source,
I found out.
UNYIELDING, MY DEMAND FOR
JUSTICE, DIANA LAURA REITERATES
Raúl calls me to explain
that it was impossible
that he had killed Colosio.
He justified himself
for about an hour on the phone
about his friendship
with Colosio,
a great friendship,
he couldn't have killed Colosio.
I told him, "Nobody
is accusing you of Colosio."
"They are accusing you
of the other matter."
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
-During the investigations
Into the assassination
of Ruiz Massieu,
the Special Prosecutor's Office
attempts to incriminate
Raúl Salinas de Gortari,
and in the package deal,
it seems they also tried
to include him
in the Luis Donaldo
Colosio issue.
However, they do not succeed.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
12 JUNE 2005
RAÚL SALINAS IS FREE
And that is where the complexity
of this story lies,
and why no prosecutor's office
has really been able
to provide conclusive evidence
of who was behind
the assassination.
PROSECUTORS OF COLOSIO'S CASE
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
LAURA: And to this day,
after so many prosecutors,
so much money, so many funds
allocated to the investigations,
to the four prosecutor's
offices, people still ask
whether it was a plot
or whether it was
a lone assassin.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
J. JESÚS LEMUS BARAJAS:
They took me to prison in 2008,
during the government
of Felipe Calderón.
OCTOBER 2020 - THE JOURNALIS
WHO WAS IMPRISONED BY CALDERÓN
AFTER REVEALING HIS SISTER'S
LINKS TO DRUG TRAFFICKING
NOVEMBER 2015 - NEWSPAPER EDITOR
SENTENCED TO 40 YEARS
And that is exactly
where I met Mario Aburto.
PRISON FRIEND OF MARIO ABURTO
In that sector
where the most dangerous inmates
in the prison were held.
The first time
I saw Mario Aburto,
I saw him as I remembered him
from when I saw him
on television.
Round-faced,
chubby-cheeked.
I still remember him
with that blow he had
on his head
in the television image
when he was arrested.
(CAMERA SHUTTERs CLICKING)
And I see him from afar
and begin to observe him,
and I ask him the first thing
anyone would ask him
"Did you kill Colosio?"
And he turns around,
looks at me, and says,
"You're gonna start screwing
around already, man."
"Like everyone else,
everyone asks me
the same thing."
And the first thing he said was,
"No, man, I didn't kill him."
Among other things, he tells me
that he was selling a gun,
and that coincidentally,
days before the assassination,
two people from the government,
he said, approached him
and offered to buy the gun,
but asked him to bring the gun
on the day of the event.
-He arrived at the rally
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
the event had not yet begun,
and they began to talk.
They began to talk about price.
At that time, he was talking
about something
like 2,000 pesos.
Then he says
that during the conversation,
together with the two
government figures,
he kept getting closer,
getting closer,
and that at a certain moment,
already almost close,
Luis Donaldo Colosio was coming.
And that he,
amongst all the people,
because he was making sure
the gun did not fall,
that he lost his balance,
and that he took out
the gun so as not to fall,
in a reflex action
to keep from falling.
And that it was that which fired
the shot into his head.
That was his version.
(GUNSHOT)
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
Look, over the years
Mario Aburto's versions
have changed a great deal,
which has somewhat hindered
the real reconstruction
of how the events occurred.
The versions, the stories,
have changed too much,
in such a way
that it is somewhat complex
to know what is true
and what is a lie,
and that is where the complexity
of this story lies.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
25 YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK
LAURA: The authorities always
gave us a summary of the story.
Volumes with summaries
of the investigations
were published,
but they really never let us see
exactly what they did
step by step.
I truly set my mind
on declassifying, that is,
opening these files,
because, in addition,
the government had placed
a tricky clause on them.
They said that
since the investigation
was still open,
they could not give Mexicans
access to these 164,000 pages
that made up
the official investigation file,
plus, the videos,
plus the photographs.
So, what happens is
that when President López
Obrador's term begins,
he makes a statement that seems
very interesting to me.
He says that to him,
the Colosio case
is a crime of State.
No crime should go unpunished
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
but when it is
a case like this,
even less so.
This is a matter of State.
The thing is
that crimes of State
are never clarified.
So, I once again
request information
through official channels,
that is,
through transparency
and public information.
I send them an excerpt
of this statement
by the president
and tell them that
if so many people voted
for President López Obrador,
then it becomes a matter
of national interest.
Through that clause
I manage to declassify
the complete file,
the entire case.
(MUSIC FALLS DRAMATICALLY) ♪
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
LAURA: The declassification
process was hell.
The authorities really made it
extremely difficult for me.
It was truly an ordeal.
FILE 41/94
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
LAURA: So, I go
to the court in Almoloya,
and I find rolls
of photographs rotting
with yellowed pages,
but it seems to me
that the most terrible thing
I encountered
was that there were bags
with the evidence,
the bullets with remains
of what appeared to be blood,
and adhesive tape
with which the bullets
were wrapped.
When I open the box,
I realize that the bullets
had come out of the little bags.
I began to cry.
I could not believe
that I had investigated
for so many years
and that access
to that information,
to those files, had been denied
to me for so many years.
And when you see the condition
of a piece
of our country's history,
it truly seemed
very desolate to me.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
LAURA: However, afterward,
it was very moving to have
that material in my hands.
The reality is that
it only corroborated
what the family
and what many people
had been telling us.
We were able to see
major violations of people's
human rights,
illegal interrogations.
We realized that
the official version
of the authorities
was just that,
an official version,
and that they really did not
tell us important details,
such as all these contradictions
in the statements.
The construction
of what happened,
that is, all the details
of where Mario was placed,
was part of the then
federal Police.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMEN
BY JESUS ROMERO JUAREZ
LAURA: They made this
first report
and handed it over
to the authorities of the PGR.
However, when they are called
to testify
I CONFIRM EACH AND EVERY PAR
OF THE POLICE REPOR
and this can be found
in the declassified file,
you realize that
of all the police officers
who signed the report.
In reality,
none of them were
in Lomas Taurinas.
MY PARTICIPATION WAS TO PROVIDE
SECURITY AT THE HOSPITAL
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
I AM PHYSICALLY PRESEN
WITH MR. MARIO ABURTO MARTINEZ
LAURA: They narrate
what occurred in Lomas Taurinas
and say that their commander
gave it to them to sign
and that they really
did not know
what they were signing.
Statements, police officers
Witnesses who were not there.
SECRET FILES
This and more
has been revealed
by the declassified file
of Mario Aburto,
alleged lone assassin
of the former PRI
presidential candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
It was an advance for him.
It was-- That was the purpose
to make visible
SOCIOLOGIS
AND HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCHER
before public opinion,
the case of an injustice
that was riddled
with irregularities.
When Mario said
what was happening
and how they were treating him,
they hung up on him.
MARIO ABURTO MARTÍNEZ:
I hereby inform you
through this means
that in this prison
in Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico
TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
BETWEEN MARIOD AND HIS FATHER
RUBÉN ABURTO CORTEZ: Hello!
-Hello?
-OPERATOR: Are you done?
RUBÉN: No, they already cut
the call over there in Almoloya.
OPERATOR:
A call there in Mexico.
-RUBÉN: Yes.
-OPERATOR: Uh-huh.
RUBÉN: Why was it cut off
the Mexican government?
OPERATOR: I don't know, sir.
Let me check.
Please allow me.
And that is how we began
to realize
everything they did to him
over many years.
They took away his photographs.
MARIO ABURTO'S LAWYER
When I saw him after 27 years
of being imprisoned,
he did not know what his sister
or his mother looked like.
It was desperation.
ADRIANA MIRANDA BADILLO:
So, that is where it became
necessary to urgently arrange
a video conference
with his family.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(TRAFFIC WHIZZING)
JOSÉ LUIS ABURTO MARTÍNEZ:
It was something very good
because my mother
was always very sad,
and to this day she is sad,
but I think at that moment
she became happy, at least,
after so many years,
to see her son.
What mother would not be
happy about that?
ADRIANA: I said to him,
"Mario, what was it like
to see your family?"
"What was it like
to reunite with them?"
And he told me,
"Well, I felt nothing."
"They simply put me
in front of a camera
with some people
and they cried and cried."
"And then they told me,
'Mario, take off your face mask,
so we can see you better.'"
"And I took it off
and then they cried more."
"And then they said,
'Mario, how are you?'
And when I heard
my mother's voice,
I realized that I still have
the capacity to love."
JOSÉ: My mother is also ill,
with diabetes.
She can no longer walk.
She is blind in one eye.
She says that she does not want
to leave this world
until she embraces
her son Mario.
And seeing my parents
like that hurts a lot.
Because they do not lose hope,
of course, nor do I.
Nor do I, because I miss him.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JOVANNY RIVERA HUERTA:
I had lost contact
with the family.
The years passed,
I made my life,
they made theirs,
until I began to work
as a journalist at Estrella TV.
One question remains unanswered,
a crime without clarification
and a population
that does not believe
in the conclusion
of four prosecutors,
in what they consider
one of the darkest chapters
in the history of Mexico.
At that time,
Mario Aburto's family
contacted our production team
and entrusted us with a letter.
"Mr. President as the father
of Mario Aburto Martínez"
"We beg you to listen
to our pleas
and have the political
and moral will to reopen
and clarify the Colosio case,
so that my son may obtain
his prompt freedom.
Sincerely"
"Rubén Aburto Cortés
and María Luisa Martínez."
This is the request
from Rubén Aburto
which we will present
to the president of Mexico,
Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In it, he expresses all the pain
suffered over the years.
This also represents
the last hope
to see his son released.
I had to make sure
that this letter
reached his hands.
He went to Mexico City,
as he promised,
to deliver that letter
to the president
at López Obrador's
morning press conference.
We got up at 3:00 in the morning
to go to the Government Palace,
where the morning conferences
are held.
We sat in the front row.
LOPEZ OBRADOR: Good morning.
CROWD: Good morning.
JOVANNY: We waited
for the president to come out
nervous
because I said,
"I only have one opportunity."
I stood up
in front of everyone
raised my hand and said,
"Mr. President."
I am Jovanny Rivera Huerta,
correspondent for Estrella TV
in Los Angeles.
"I have a letter from the family
of Mario Aburto."
It was written
by Mario Aburto's parents.
Through this letter,
they ask you
to please open the case,
reopen the Colosio case.
They trust very much
in your word.
-At that moment
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
the conference room
was completely silent.
-(MUSIC RESUMES) ♪
-JOVANNY: If you'll allow me,
I would like to present
the letter to you.
I was so nervous.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JOVANNY: I handed him
the document,
took him by the hand,
looked him in the eyes and said,
-"Only you can help clarify
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
these questions and answers."
And the president looked at me,
and I can still feel his hand,
he firmly grasped my hand
and said to me,
"We will see what can be done."
And he returned to the podium.
Well, I am going
to read this letter,
and I am going to forward it
to the Ministry of the Interior
to see what proceeds
from the legal point of view.
Well, he did not give us
100 percent hope,
but we tried to believe.
Twenty-eight years
after the assassination
of Luis Donaldo Colosio
in Lomas Taurinas,
in Tijuana, Baja California
Today the Office
of the Attorney General
of the Republic reported
that it reopened
the investigation
into the assassination
of the former
PRI presidential candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio,
that happened 28 years ago.
The Colosio case
will be reopened
with two objectives,
two purposes.
CRIMINAL LAWYER
One of them is the investigation
of the possible torture
that Aburto may have suffered
at the time of his arrest
and for what reason?
This is the consequence
of that recommendation
of the National
Human Rights Commission
that alleges possible torture.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I scrutinized the files
and found precisely a complaint
from Aburto,
from the same year, 1994.
A complaint that alleged
that he had been subjected
to torture, but it remained
in the file there, frozen.
Immediately,
the need arose to say
"This cannot go unpunished."
What happened with this?
lines of investigation
GABRIEL REGINO GARCÍA:
If the torture were proven
that would imply
that the criminal process
and Aburto's conviction
would collapse,
would fall apart
at its foundations.
FGR REOPENS INVESTIGATION
INTO THE COLOSIO CASE
REPORTER: The Attorney General
Alejandro Gertz Manero
instructed for this purpose
the formation of a special team
for investigation,
and litigation that will be
in charge of resuming
and concluding
the criminal proceedings
linked to the homicide
of Colosio.
GABRIEL: But in addition,
the file is reopened to exhaust
that line of investigation
that was constructed
from the beginning.
To corroborate
the possible existence
of a second shooter in the death
of the presidential candidate
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
(INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NATIONAL PALACE
MEXICO CITY
30 YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK
LOPEZ OBRADOR: Cheer up!
CROWD: Cheer up!
-Good morning.
-CROWD: Good morning.
All the investigations
were carried out here,
and it was indeed demonstrated
that there was a second shooter.
Many years passed
where everyone believed
that there was
no more information
on the Colosio case,
and suddenly,
a new character appears.
LOPEZ OBRADOR: It turned out
that this second character
was from CISEN,
the government's
intelligence center
at the time
of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
LAURA: His name is Jorge Antonio
Sánchez Ortega.
He would have fired
the second shot
in this case the abdominal shot,
and would have attempted
to escape from the scene.
However, he was taken
to the PGR facilities.
And not only that,
this man was wearing
a jacket stained with blood.
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
JOSÉ: At that moment,
when the PGR agent
was taking me in Tijuana,
I saw my brother
in the basement below,
but it turned out
that it was Sánchez Ortega.
They are identical.
Sánchez Ortega has a lot
to do with this.
And Sánchez Ortega
was from CISEN
which is part of the government.
There is a turning point
in the story
of the Colosio case.
I believe that some cracks
are truly beginning to open.
(GUNSHOT)
STATEMENTS MADE BY PARTICIPANTS
DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS
OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
OR DISTRIBUTORS
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(GUNSHOT)
(GUNSHOT)
ANONYMOUS OFFICER: I belonged
to the Municipal Police
of Tijuana.
I received an offer
to participate
in an extra-police operation
to provide security
for the candidate.
(GUNSHOTS)
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
The operation was called Tucán.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL ZIMBRÓN LÓPEZ:
It was a group
of former police officers,
former judicial
or ministerial agents,
which was going to assist
the General Staff
LIEUTENANT GENERAL
in order to work jointly
and provide security.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
The person who recruited us
was Rodolfo Rivapalacio,
a chief in the Judicial Police
of the State of Baja California.
FORMER BAJA CALIFORNIA
JUDICIAL POLICE OFFICER
Rodolfo Rivapalacio
was in charge of organizing
some security operations
at important PRI events.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIS
ANONYMOUS OFFICER :
They wanted to know
what knowledge we had,
and they evaluated us.
Mario Aburto knew how to shoot,
he was there, and I remember
seeing him firing.
(GUNSHOT BOOMING)
And it was the first group
that surrounded
BAJA CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
the person of Luis Donaldo.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
MIGUEL ÁNGUEL:
This group had been formed
by the logistics
of the PRI party.
I had no idea that the party
resorted to groups like this
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
and I do not know
where it may have come from.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
COLOSIO: POLITICAL ASSASSINATION
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
EPISODE 2
THE MASTERMIND
-(WIND WHOOSHING)
-(TRAFFIC BUZZING)
CARLOS SALINAS DE GORTARI:
While I was
at the presidential residence
in Mexico City,
the terrible news
that Luis Donaldo had died
was confirmed.
It was an instant
that caused me
immense sadness
because not only
was the political fact
incomprehensible
but, personally
it represented the loss
of one of my best of friends
and of someone with whom,
for more than 15 years,
we had worked together
to contribute
to the progress of Mexicans.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
14TH NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY OF THE PRI
Here is the President
of the Republic
who, by working decisively
in favor of Mexico,
strengthens the Institutional
Revolutionary Party.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
Uh, I wanted Donaldo to get
the opportunity to compete
as a candidate
for the presidency
of the Republic.
To do so with the enthusiasm
of a man of the party,
with the support
that you give me today
PRI HEADQUARTERS
I propose to maintain
and deepen solidarity
as the backbone
-of our social policy.
-(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
I would say that he was
the expected candidate,
in many senses.
For the first time since 1934
a former leader,
former president of the PRI,
was a candidate
for the presidency.
He also came from a popularly
elected position.
Let's say he had earned it
through hard work,
-in the best sense of the word.
-(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LUIS DONALDO COLOSIO MURRIETA:
Comrades of the PRI,
it is here
HIDALGO
in the heart
of the Huasteca of Hidalgo
START OF THE PRE-CAMPAIGN
IN HUEJUTLA DE REYES, HGO
where I have decided
to begin my campaign
for the presidency
of the Republic.
Colosio's ideals
were very transparent.
JOURNALIST AND POLITCAL ANALYS
He was an atypical politician.
He was not flattering,
he was not boastful.
He was truly concerned
with getting things done.
He delved deeply into problems.
The Huasteca region shows us
the most urgent tasks
that we must carry out
to consolidate
the transformation of Mexico.
He started
from self-criticism
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMEN
and the recognition
of the crisis
that the country
and the PRI was experiencing.
In the year '88, there was
an internal confrontation
between, let's say,
the precarious PRI,
the one that we all
greatly need,
and those who want to preserve
control of that party.
When an organization spends
a long time
in circumstances or situations
of power or authority,
bureaucracies and resistances
are formed
because they are accustomed
to a way of being
and they do not realize
that reality changes.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
MEXICO CITY
The strength of the government
was to a great extent
the strength of our party.
But today,
the moment is different.
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LAURA ELENA COLOSIO MURRIETA:
He wanted to renew
this official party,
and he wanted to separate it
COLOSIO'S SISTER
from what was
the PRI government.
He wanted there
to be a separation.
LUIS: We propose
the reform of power
so that there may be
a new relationship
between the citizen
and the State.
At the famous meeting
of the PRI anniversary
before the assassination,
also in March
JOURNALIS
AND WITNESS OF THE ATTACK
the speech was
very anti-Salinista.
It was interpreted
in the only possible way.
It was a speech
of political rupture.
At no time was a rupture
with the government proposed,
but
rather the normal distance
that is always adopted.
Donaldo
was immersed in the project
that we were carrying out
to seek a change
of the system from within.
And it was those, the so-called
nomenclature of the PRI,
who did not view the candidacy
as normal in their eyes.
Colosio was uncomfortable
for all PRI groups.
The so-called dinosaurs
of the PRI,
Colosio did not want them
at his side.
I want to be president of Mexico
to lead this new stage
of change in Mexico.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING)
CARLOS: It seemed to me
a fiery speech,
as campaign speeches should be,
in the context
of the Chiapas uprising
and the turbulence
that it had generated.
MAN AT MARCH: Long live
the Mexican revolution!
-(CROWD CHEERS)
-(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MAN AT MARCH:
Long live the defenders
of the Zapatista Army
of National Liberation!
CROWD: Long live!
What happens? It is the event
that draws attention,
that captures the media.
No one talked about anything
but Chiapas.
One day, one week, one month,
only Chiapas was talked about.
-The campaigns disappeared.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
The start
of a presidential campaign
JOURNALIS
AND DIANA LAURA'S FRIEND
in Mexico is very important,
as in all countries.
But especially in Mexico,
with that very fresh background.
-It forced Luis Donaldo
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
to modify his strategy.
That is when,
in quotation marks,
he "breaks away" from security
and gets closer to the people.
-(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
FEDERICO ARREOLA: He said,
"What is customary
is a circle of soldiers
and another and another
and the candidate in the middle,
and he does not
approach anyone."
And Colosio said,
"Then what do I campaign for?"
I might as well do it
on television."
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
I was part of the security team
of Luis Donaldo Colosio
in the year 1994
with the rank of lieutenant.
If at a certain moment
my life had depended
STATE LIEUTENAN
on saving the candidate,
I would have done it
with great pleasure. Why?
Because psychologically we were
prepared for such an event.
The problem was
that the candidate
did not want security.
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: We moved
toward Lomas Taurinas,
-we got out
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
and then you realize that
the conditions of the terrain
were not conducive
to an event or a rally
of that magnitude.
PEDRO SERRANO GANDARA:
This neighborhood represents
one of the highest crime rates,
but in addition to that
MUNICIPAL OFFICER OF TIJUANA
it had other
security-related characteristics
that were worrying.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-PEDRO: The access points,
there was no paving.
The topography of the place
was very complicated
in case of an emergency.
Internally,
you get goosebumps
because you see
that it is a risky situation.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
When we arrived there,
what I remember is
General Domiro García Reyes,
the military officer in charge
of Luis Donaldo
Colosio's security
COLOSIO'S SECURITY MANAGER
telling me that it was
a very poorly organized
and dangerous rally.
He was very upset.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: General Domiro
asks how it is possible
that they organized an event
in that place.
And I told him, "General, well,
you are the one
in charge of security."
"Well, what do you want me
to say? Well, you allowed it."
The one who organized
that entire event
was the logistics of the PRI.
And the only thing that was done
was to adjust
to the circumstances.
I do not know
who made that decision.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL: The entire route
of going down
and up to the stage was titanic.
ANNOUNCER: Mr. Luis Donaldo
Colosio Murrieta!
LUIS: We are going to continue
with the organization
of grassroots committees
that you have carried out.
(CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
He finishes giving the speech,
he comes down, there's an order
to form a barrier,
that barrier is not achieved.
The same mass causes you
to move along with everyone.
You cannot wait
because the people
themselves push you.
We adopted the Diamond device,
which allowed us to be
at the front, rear, and sides,
and the head of the escort
attached to the candidate.
That formation, as a rule,
we always handled,
but at two or three meters
it is impossible.
The device was open and there,
unfortunately,
we could not do anything.
So, I turn in order to advance
and continue
maintaining my position
when, at that instant,
two impacts are heard.
-(GUNSHOTS)
-(CROWD SCREAMING)
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
FEDERICO:
People were surrounding Colosio
and what I saw was
that when he was shot,
people went crazy.
Everyone was like this
They shoot and Colosio
remains there lying down.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
Then I see the candidate
has already fallen face-down,
and I approach
with my colleagues,
we turn him over and carry him
to get him out of there.
(CROWD CLAMOR CONTINUES)
With my right hand, I cover
a blood exit that he had
on his head.
We carried him to take him
to the Blazer unit.
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
Evidently, the Presidential
General Staff
was not prepared
for Colosio's security.
The result says
that that it was not.
We are human, we have feelings,
and the comments
made out of protagonism,
out of exhibitionism,
out of whatever you want,
that is frustrating
because they did not
know the facts.
Frustrating.
-(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
Before what happened
at Lomas Taurinas,
General Domiro was told
that there was going to be
alternative security,
or rather parallel to that
of the General Staff.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
It was a group of people
FORMER OFFICER OF TIJUANA
to be bodyguards,
to provide security
to the PRI candidate.
DORA ELENA CORTÉS JUÁREZ:
What drew attention here
is that they did allow a group
already popularly known
as Tucán, supposedly
supporting the security tasks.
It seems very strange to me
that the Presidential
General Staff allowed that
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
OF "EL COMPLOT"
instead of them themselves
making this ring
that is normally customary.
That is what we could not
understand at that moment.
How is it that you allow
an external group
to approach you
and you make
a group of professionals,
of loyal soldiers spread open?
That is where
it is not understood.
Domiro is the one who allowed
the Tucán group to participate.
MIGUEL ÁNGEL:
My general accepts things
based on instructions
and orders.
If my general had
had 100 percent authority,
then he would
automatically say no.
"We, the Presidential
General Staff,
are going to be
in charge of everything."
DORA: So, like that,
there were many little details
that we had to keep adding up,
and that is when, on March 28th,
just a few days after the events
at Lomas Taurinas occurred,
we published information
in the newspaper El Universal
COLOSIO, VICTIM OF A PLO
where we were already talking
about the possibility of a plot.
So, at the moment
that this was published,
the entire case
took a complete turn.
How is everyone doing?
Good evening.
The Office
of the Attorney General
of the Republic announced
the indictment of more detainees
allegedly related
to the Colosio case,
which points to a plot
to assassinate
the late PRI candidate.
The first to officially address
this issue is Miguel Montes.
The homicide was committed
by Mario Aburto Martínez
PRIMARY PROSECUTOR
IN THE COLOSIO CASE
assisted
by other individuals.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
In addition to Aburto
FIRST LAWYER OF MARIO ABURTO
four former agents
of the State Judicial Police
were detained,
all of them members
of the Tucán group.
REPORTER 1: As of now,
one can speak of
the simultaneous participation
of the following individuals.
Tranquilino Sánchez,
whose task consisted
of obstructing the performance
of General Domiro García Reyes,
in charge of security,
facilitating
Mario Aburto's access
to a point close to Colosio.
The task of Vicente
Mayoral Valenzuela
was to open a path
toward the victim
for a physically
identified individual.
Rodolfo Mayoral Esquer,
son of Vicente Mayoral,
contributed by pushing
and hindering
the actions of Colonel Federico
Antonio Reynaldos del Pozo.
For his part,
Rodolfo Rivapalacio was the one
who incorporated
Tranquilino Sánchez,
Vicente Mayoral,
and Rodolfo Mayoral
into the security group.
COLOSIO CASE APRIL 1994
PRISON FOR TRANQUILINO SANCHEZ,
VICENTE AND RODOLFO MAYORAL
RODOLFO RIVAPALACIO RELEASED
DUE TO LACK OF EVIDENCE
After attending to Aburto,
and signing the record
of his ministerial statement,
I was informed
that I might be able to provide
legal defense services
for Mr. Vicente Mayoral,
and he accepted
that I be his defense attorney.
He states that upon hearing
the shot, he turns around,
and still grabs the weapon.
With one of his hands
and with the other
he grabs the arm
and they turn and both fall
on top of the candidate.
And it was at that instant
when the second shot occurred.
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
I do not see that they had
a motive to go
and kill the candidate, no.
Nor to be part of a famous plot
that, in my opinion,
never existed.
So, these people eventually
obtained their freedom.
APRIL 1995 - PROSECUTION FAILS
TO PROVE INVOLVEMENT IN MURDER
I do not know
how much participation
some members of the Tucán group
may have had in a possible plot
or conspiracy,
but perhaps they were used.
MAY 1995 - MORE WITNESSES APPEAR
LINKING ABURTO TO TUCÁN GROUP
ERNESTO RUFFO APPEL:
It was not normal
for those guards
to be present at PRI events.
-I have always calculated
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
that the probability is
that it was a plot.
But I cannot prove it,
that is my speculation.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
REPORTER: In a press conference,
Ruffo Appel said that although
there is nothing conclusive,
circumstantial elements
are being found
that indicate
there was a relationship
between Tranquilino Sánchez
and Vicente Mayoral
with the alleged killer
Mario Aburto Martínez.
According to the brief
conversations I had with Aburto,
and what I heard him say,
there was no relationship at all
that he had with those
of the group they called Tucán.
DORA: Rodolfo Rivapalacio has
denied having had
a relationship
with Mario Aburto Martínez.
However, there are versions
that do link them,
that do say he had some contact,
including Mario Aburto's father,
with whom we had the opportunity
to speak in Los Angeles.
He said that he went to look
for him at the house
on some occasions
and even showed us a drawing
that Mario Aburto
supposedly made,
a two-story house
that belonged to this man.
It does give the appearance
that it could be so,
and that they could have
known each other.
ANONYMOUS OFFICER:
And if Mario Aburto
says that he does not know
Rivapalacio,
I do not know why,
because he does know him.
He knows Rivapalacio
perfectly well.
DORA: According to Mario Aburto,
he was coached under threat
as to what he had to say.
And accepting
that he knew him
was validating
a possible conspiracy. Why?
Because then they could link him
precisely with this group,
with the PRI.
(CROWD APPLAUDING)
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
DORA: When they were saying
farewell to Colosio,
when the honors of departure
were being rendered,
the president arrived,
Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
The PRI members themselves
began to reproach him.
MEMBER: Mr. President,
we want justice!
-MEMBERS: Justice!
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
MEMBERS: (CHANTING) Who did it?
Who did it? Who did it
DORA: There was very much
that perception
that it had been the work
of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
MEMBER 1: Let him testify!
MEMBER 2: We want peace
in the country! Mr. President!
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
MEMBER 3: Let the heads roll!
It seems to me a meanness
in terms of the personal pain
that the death meant
for me. So
let them keep the malice
that poisons them.
I have enough with the pain
that Donaldo's absence
causes me.
-(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(CROWD APPLAUDING)
UNYIELDING, MY DEMAND FOR
JUSTICE, DIANA LAURA REITERATES
FEDERICO: Diana Laura,
Colosio's wife,
thought many ugly things
about everyone.
In fact, she came to say,
"He was killed
by the bullets of betrayal."
"The system killed him."
Who? Well, I don't know.
Let's see,
the big question that those
who question this assassination
always ask me is,
"Do you think
Carlos Salinas killed
or ordered the killing
of Luis Donaldo Colosio?"
My blunt answer is, no
because the bullet
that killed Colosio
politically killed
Carlos Salinas.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
LAURA SANCHEZ LEY: Many years
after the assassination,
Mario Aburto would reveal
another supposed truth.
While he was detained,
one of the agent's puts
the former president,
Carlos Salinas de Gortari,
on the phone with him,
who tells him
that he can give him benefits
if he points out
some political actors
who were behind
the assassination
of Luis Donaldo Colosio.
Salinas de Gortari
has a lot to do with this.
He washed his hands of it.
MARIO ABURTO'S BROTHER
This is a man
who cowardly attacked
Donaldo Colosio,
who committed
a reprehensible act
that deeply harmed the country,
Donaldo's family,
and me personally.
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
RAMÓN GARZA: The Sunday
before Luis Donaldo Colosio
was assassinated,
he made a tour of Monterrey.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
RAMÓN: He loved Monterrey
because they pampered him there,
because he felt it was his
second home after Sonora.
His friends, his people.
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-We love you! We count on you!
RAMÓN: He went to visit
the newspaper El Norte.
He talked with us,
with editorial writers,
executives, etc.
And what happened there?
Donaldo tells me, "Hey,
Ramón Alberto, in that truck
an entrepreneur wants to give me
a donation for the campaign."
"Go discreetly, take a look,
and tell me who he is
so I can go greet him by name."
I went and looked and found
that he was not
a Monterrey businessman at all,
he was a rather
rough-looking guy.
He must have been
from organized crime.
It was obvious that he was a guy
who came with other intentions.
I went back and told Colosio,
"Listen, Donaldo, this man is
not a Monterrey businessman,
what's more,
he's not even from Monterrey."
"And be careful
because he might make you
an indecent proposal."
That's how it happened.
He left, got into the truck,
and told me, "You were right,
he was a member of a cartel
who came to offer me
the first ten million dollars
of a 30-million-dollar proposal
to put into my campaign."
"And what did you answer him?"
I asked.
"That I could not
accept anything,
that I appreciated the gesture,
but no, thank you."
And that was that.
Three days after that
Luis Donaldo was assassinated
-in Lomas Taurinas.
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
But it is one episode
of what were
the multiple encounters
that occurred along the path
of his pre-candidacy
and his candidacy,
which mostly ended in clashes,
even with very prominent
politicians who operated
with and for those cartels.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JANUARY 1994 - NARCOPOLITICS
UNLEASHES VIOLENCE IN MEXICO
CARTEL INFILTRATION INTO
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES IS GROWING
THE JUDICIARY
OF BC PROTECTED DRUG TRAFFICKERS
DORA: In the case of links
between politicians
and drug traffickers,
there were many comments
at the national level
about some
very high-level figures
who could be linked.
One of these
is Córdoba Montoya
HEAD OF THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
to whom great power
was attributed,
who was called
the gray eminence,
because he had
a great deal of influence
over President Carlos
Salinas de Gortari,
to the point of making decisions
without needing to consult him.
Salinas's great adviser,
the power behind the throne,
the sinister one.
And on the other hand,
someone much closer to him,
his brother
Raúl Salinas de Gortari,
a character who,
with all the power
he had for being who he was,
decided all kinds of business,
had many influences,
and there was
no shortage of those
who linked him
to drug trafficking.
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
RAMÓN:
Raúl Salinas de Gortari
BROTHER OF PRESIDENT SALINAS
is a very peculiar character
because he is the eldest son
of this Salinas family clan.
The one who, as his father
Raúl Salinas Lozano once said,
was the one who was predestined
to be president of Mexico.
I will always defend
with loyalty and patriotism
the supreme interests
of the nation.
RAMÓN: And Raúl was
an older brother who,
as we say here,
was "rebellious."
Not having the eagle's chair,
the presidential chair
that he longed for
with his father.
He ended up
being an operational arm
of many things that happened
between the government
and the business sector.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
ANNOUNCER: We welcome
our candidate
for the presidency
of the Republic,
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
RAMÓN: When Colosio went
to different places
in the country to talk
with businessmen
or certain politicians,
there was a complaint that some
organized crime groups boasted
of having relationships
with Raúl Salinas.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
RAMÓN: And that eventually,
as a candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio would have
informed President Salinas
of those types of conversations,
as if to tell him,
"Tell Raúl to be attentive
because they are involving him
in issues of organized crime
and drug trafficking."
MAY 1996 - RAÚL-NARCO
CONNECTIONS COME TO LIGH
Presumably,
Carlos Salinas, as president,
would have told his brother
this message
MAY 1997 - RAÚL SALINAS
PROTECTS THE GULF CARTEL
and that message
would not have sat well at all
with Raúl Salinas de Gortari.
Luis Donaldo Colosio's
relationship with Raúl Salinas
deteriorated considerably
because Raúl Salinas wanted
to be a senator
and later governor
of Nuevo León,
and Colosio opposed it.
Obviously, Raúl Salinas
became very upset.
Raúl felt that Colosio was
already working
on his own project
far from the Salinas family,
particularly against him.
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
RAMÓN:
There is a very commented on,
very published,
very debated note.
A note that speaks
of the presidency
being reached from within,
-not knocking from outside.
-(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
INTERVIEWER:
What can you tell us
about the accusations
against your brother Raúl
in the Colosio case?
If you want, later we can do
a series on that,
but I really don't see
that it is relevant here.
It is the only case
we have in modern times
of a brother of a president
of the Republic
who ends up going to prison.
Raúl Salinas de Gortari
is sentenced to 50 years
in prison for the reasons
set forth in the tenth
consideration of this ruling.
FEDERICO: When they accuse
Raúl Salinas of being
the intellectual author
of the assassination
of José Francisco Ruiz Massieu,
a friend of mine publishes it
because I was
that friend's source,
I found out.
UNYIELDING, MY DEMAND FOR
JUSTICE, DIANA LAURA REITERATES
Raúl calls me to explain
that it was impossible
that he had killed Colosio.
He justified himself
for about an hour on the phone
about his friendship
with Colosio,
a great friendship,
he couldn't have killed Colosio.
I told him, "Nobody
is accusing you of Colosio."
"They are accusing you
of the other matter."
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
-During the investigations
Into the assassination
of Ruiz Massieu,
the Special Prosecutor's Office
attempts to incriminate
Raúl Salinas de Gortari,
and in the package deal,
it seems they also tried
to include him
in the Luis Donaldo
Colosio issue.
However, they do not succeed.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
12 JUNE 2005
RAÚL SALINAS IS FREE
And that is where the complexity
of this story lies,
and why no prosecutor's office
has really been able
to provide conclusive evidence
of who was behind
the assassination.
PROSECUTORS OF COLOSIO'S CASE
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
LAURA: And to this day,
after so many prosecutors,
so much money, so many funds
allocated to the investigations,
to the four prosecutor's
offices, people still ask
whether it was a plot
or whether it was
a lone assassin.
(OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
J. JESÚS LEMUS BARAJAS:
They took me to prison in 2008,
during the government
of Felipe Calderón.
OCTOBER 2020 - THE JOURNALIS
WHO WAS IMPRISONED BY CALDERÓN
AFTER REVEALING HIS SISTER'S
LINKS TO DRUG TRAFFICKING
NOVEMBER 2015 - NEWSPAPER EDITOR
SENTENCED TO 40 YEARS
And that is exactly
where I met Mario Aburto.
PRISON FRIEND OF MARIO ABURTO
In that sector
where the most dangerous inmates
in the prison were held.
The first time
I saw Mario Aburto,
I saw him as I remembered him
from when I saw him
on television.
Round-faced,
chubby-cheeked.
I still remember him
with that blow he had
on his head
in the television image
when he was arrested.
(CAMERA SHUTTERs CLICKING)
And I see him from afar
and begin to observe him,
and I ask him the first thing
anyone would ask him
"Did you kill Colosio?"
And he turns around,
looks at me, and says,
"You're gonna start screwing
around already, man."
"Like everyone else,
everyone asks me
the same thing."
And the first thing he said was,
"No, man, I didn't kill him."
Among other things, he tells me
that he was selling a gun,
and that coincidentally,
days before the assassination,
two people from the government,
he said, approached him
and offered to buy the gun,
but asked him to bring the gun
on the day of the event.
-He arrived at the rally
-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
the event had not yet begun,
and they began to talk.
They began to talk about price.
At that time, he was talking
about something
like 2,000 pesos.
Then he says
that during the conversation,
together with the two
government figures,
he kept getting closer,
getting closer,
and that at a certain moment,
already almost close,
Luis Donaldo Colosio was coming.
And that he,
amongst all the people,
because he was making sure
the gun did not fall,
that he lost his balance,
and that he took out
the gun so as not to fall,
in a reflex action
to keep from falling.
And that it was that which fired
the shot into his head.
That was his version.
(GUNSHOT)
(MUSIC FADES) ♪
Look, over the years
Mario Aburto's versions
have changed a great deal,
which has somewhat hindered
the real reconstruction
of how the events occurred.
The versions, the stories,
have changed too much,
in such a way
that it is somewhat complex
to know what is true
and what is a lie,
and that is where the complexity
of this story lies.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
25 YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK
LAURA: The authorities always
gave us a summary of the story.
Volumes with summaries
of the investigations
were published,
but they really never let us see
exactly what they did
step by step.
I truly set my mind
on declassifying, that is,
opening these files,
because, in addition,
the government had placed
a tricky clause on them.
They said that
since the investigation
was still open,
they could not give Mexicans
access to these 164,000 pages
that made up
the official investigation file,
plus, the videos,
plus the photographs.
So, what happens is
that when President López
Obrador's term begins,
he makes a statement that seems
very interesting to me.
He says that to him,
the Colosio case
is a crime of State.
No crime should go unpunished
PRESIDENT OF MEXICO
but when it is
a case like this,
even less so.
This is a matter of State.
The thing is
that crimes of State
are never clarified.
So, I once again
request information
through official channels,
that is,
through transparency
and public information.
I send them an excerpt
of this statement
by the president
and tell them that
if so many people voted
for President López Obrador,
then it becomes a matter
of national interest.
Through that clause
I manage to declassify
the complete file,
the entire case.
(MUSIC FALLS DRAMATICALLY) ♪
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
LAURA: The declassification
process was hell.
The authorities really made it
extremely difficult for me.
It was truly an ordeal.
FILE 41/94
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
LAURA: So, I go
to the court in Almoloya,
and I find rolls
of photographs rotting
with yellowed pages,
but it seems to me
that the most terrible thing
I encountered
was that there were bags
with the evidence,
the bullets with remains
of what appeared to be blood,
and adhesive tape
with which the bullets
were wrapped.
When I open the box,
I realize that the bullets
had come out of the little bags.
I began to cry.
I could not believe
that I had investigated
for so many years
and that access
to that information,
to those files, had been denied
to me for so many years.
And when you see the condition
of a piece
of our country's history,
it truly seemed
very desolate to me.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
LAURA: However, afterward,
it was very moving to have
that material in my hands.
The reality is that
it only corroborated
what the family
and what many people
had been telling us.
We were able to see
major violations of people's
human rights,
illegal interrogations.
We realized that
the official version
of the authorities
was just that,
an official version,
and that they really did not
tell us important details,
such as all these contradictions
in the statements.
The construction
of what happened,
that is, all the details
of where Mario was placed,
was part of the then
federal Police.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMEN
BY JESUS ROMERO JUAREZ
LAURA: They made this
first report
and handed it over
to the authorities of the PGR.
However, when they are called
to testify
I CONFIRM EACH AND EVERY PAR
OF THE POLICE REPOR
and this can be found
in the declassified file,
you realize that
of all the police officers
who signed the report.
In reality,
none of them were
in Lomas Taurinas.
MY PARTICIPATION WAS TO PROVIDE
SECURITY AT THE HOSPITAL
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
I AM PHYSICALLY PRESEN
WITH MR. MARIO ABURTO MARTINEZ
LAURA: They narrate
what occurred in Lomas Taurinas
and say that their commander
gave it to them to sign
and that they really
did not know
what they were signing.
Statements, police officers
Witnesses who were not there.
SECRET FILES
This and more
has been revealed
by the declassified file
of Mario Aburto,
alleged lone assassin
of the former PRI
presidential candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
It was an advance for him.
It was-- That was the purpose
to make visible
SOCIOLOGIS
AND HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCHER
before public opinion,
the case of an injustice
that was riddled
with irregularities.
When Mario said
what was happening
and how they were treating him,
they hung up on him.
MARIO ABURTO MARTÍNEZ:
I hereby inform you
through this means
that in this prison
in Almoloya de Juárez, Mexico
TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
BETWEEN MARIOD AND HIS FATHER
RUBÉN ABURTO CORTEZ: Hello!
-Hello?
-OPERATOR: Are you done?
RUBÉN: No, they already cut
the call over there in Almoloya.
OPERATOR:
A call there in Mexico.
-RUBÉN: Yes.
-OPERATOR: Uh-huh.
RUBÉN: Why was it cut off
the Mexican government?
OPERATOR: I don't know, sir.
Let me check.
Please allow me.
And that is how we began
to realize
everything they did to him
over many years.
They took away his photographs.
MARIO ABURTO'S LAWYER
When I saw him after 27 years
of being imprisoned,
he did not know what his sister
or his mother looked like.
It was desperation.
ADRIANA MIRANDA BADILLO:
So, that is where it became
necessary to urgently arrange
a video conference
with his family.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(TRAFFIC WHIZZING)
JOSÉ LUIS ABURTO MARTÍNEZ:
It was something very good
because my mother
was always very sad,
and to this day she is sad,
but I think at that moment
she became happy, at least,
after so many years,
to see her son.
What mother would not be
happy about that?
ADRIANA: I said to him,
"Mario, what was it like
to see your family?"
"What was it like
to reunite with them?"
And he told me,
"Well, I felt nothing."
"They simply put me
in front of a camera
with some people
and they cried and cried."
"And then they told me,
'Mario, take off your face mask,
so we can see you better.'"
"And I took it off
and then they cried more."
"And then they said,
'Mario, how are you?'
And when I heard
my mother's voice,
I realized that I still have
the capacity to love."
JOSÉ: My mother is also ill,
with diabetes.
She can no longer walk.
She is blind in one eye.
She says that she does not want
to leave this world
until she embraces
her son Mario.
And seeing my parents
like that hurts a lot.
Because they do not lose hope,
of course, nor do I.
Nor do I, because I miss him.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS)
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
JOVANNY RIVERA HUERTA:
I had lost contact
with the family.
The years passed,
I made my life,
they made theirs,
until I began to work
as a journalist at Estrella TV.
One question remains unanswered,
a crime without clarification
and a population
that does not believe
in the conclusion
of four prosecutors,
in what they consider
one of the darkest chapters
in the history of Mexico.
At that time,
Mario Aburto's family
contacted our production team
and entrusted us with a letter.
"Mr. President as the father
of Mario Aburto Martínez"
"We beg you to listen
to our pleas
and have the political
and moral will to reopen
and clarify the Colosio case,
so that my son may obtain
his prompt freedom.
Sincerely"
"Rubén Aburto Cortés
and María Luisa Martínez."
This is the request
from Rubén Aburto
which we will present
to the president of Mexico,
Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In it, he expresses all the pain
suffered over the years.
This also represents
the last hope
to see his son released.
I had to make sure
that this letter
reached his hands.
He went to Mexico City,
as he promised,
to deliver that letter
to the president
at López Obrador's
morning press conference.
We got up at 3:00 in the morning
to go to the Government Palace,
where the morning conferences
are held.
We sat in the front row.
LOPEZ OBRADOR: Good morning.
CROWD: Good morning.
JOVANNY: We waited
for the president to come out
nervous
because I said,
"I only have one opportunity."
I stood up
in front of everyone
raised my hand and said,
"Mr. President."
I am Jovanny Rivera Huerta,
correspondent for Estrella TV
in Los Angeles.
"I have a letter from the family
of Mario Aburto."
It was written
by Mario Aburto's parents.
Through this letter,
they ask you
to please open the case,
reopen the Colosio case.
They trust very much
in your word.
-At that moment
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
the conference room
was completely silent.
-(MUSIC RESUMES) ♪
-JOVANNY: If you'll allow me,
I would like to present
the letter to you.
I was so nervous.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
JOVANNY: I handed him
the document,
took him by the hand,
looked him in the eyes and said,
-"Only you can help clarify
-(MUSIC FADES) ♪
these questions and answers."
And the president looked at me,
and I can still feel his hand,
he firmly grasped my hand
and said to me,
"We will see what can be done."
And he returned to the podium.
Well, I am going
to read this letter,
and I am going to forward it
to the Ministry of the Interior
to see what proceeds
from the legal point of view.
Well, he did not give us
100 percent hope,
but we tried to believe.
Twenty-eight years
after the assassination
of Luis Donaldo Colosio
in Lomas Taurinas,
in Tijuana, Baja California
Today the Office
of the Attorney General
of the Republic reported
that it reopened
the investigation
into the assassination
of the former
PRI presidential candidate,
Luis Donaldo Colosio,
that happened 28 years ago.
The Colosio case
will be reopened
with two objectives,
two purposes.
CRIMINAL LAWYER
One of them is the investigation
of the possible torture
that Aburto may have suffered
at the time of his arrest
and for what reason?
This is the consequence
of that recommendation
of the National
Human Rights Commission
that alleges possible torture.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
I scrutinized the files
and found precisely a complaint
from Aburto,
from the same year, 1994.
A complaint that alleged
that he had been subjected
to torture, but it remained
in the file there, frozen.
Immediately,
the need arose to say
"This cannot go unpunished."
What happened with this?
lines of investigation
GABRIEL REGINO GARCÍA:
If the torture were proven
that would imply
that the criminal process
and Aburto's conviction
would collapse,
would fall apart
at its foundations.
FGR REOPENS INVESTIGATION
INTO THE COLOSIO CASE
REPORTER: The Attorney General
Alejandro Gertz Manero
instructed for this purpose
the formation of a special team
for investigation,
and litigation that will be
in charge of resuming
and concluding
the criminal proceedings
linked to the homicide
of Colosio.
GABRIEL: But in addition,
the file is reopened to exhaust
that line of investigation
that was constructed
from the beginning.
To corroborate
the possible existence
of a second shooter in the death
of the presidential candidate
Luis Donaldo Colosio.
(INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
NATIONAL PALACE
MEXICO CITY
30 YEARS AFTER THE ATTACK
LOPEZ OBRADOR: Cheer up!
CROWD: Cheer up!
-Good morning.
-CROWD: Good morning.
All the investigations
were carried out here,
and it was indeed demonstrated
that there was a second shooter.
Many years passed
where everyone believed
that there was
no more information
on the Colosio case,
and suddenly,
a new character appears.
LOPEZ OBRADOR: It turned out
that this second character
was from CISEN,
the government's
intelligence center
at the time
of Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
LAURA: His name is Jorge Antonio
Sánchez Ortega.
He would have fired
the second shot
in this case the abdominal shot,
and would have attempted
to escape from the scene.
However, he was taken
to the PGR facilities.
And not only that,
this man was wearing
a jacket stained with blood.
(MUSIC INTENSIFIES) ♪
JOSÉ: At that moment,
when the PGR agent
was taking me in Tijuana,
I saw my brother
in the basement below,
but it turned out
that it was Sánchez Ortega.
They are identical.
Sánchez Ortega has a lot
to do with this.
And Sánchez Ortega
was from CISEN
which is part of the government.
There is a turning point
in the story
of the Colosio case.
I believe that some cracks
are truly beginning to open.
(GUNSHOT)
STATEMENTS MADE BY PARTICIPANTS
DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS
OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY
OR DISTRIBUTORS
(MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪