Mexican government pursues second-shooter theory in 1994 political assassination that shook country

At Mexico City’s El Califa de Leon, on the wall with two red Michelin star plaques above a sign listing the tacos on the menu, hangs a framed, blown-up print of a newspaper page with a sketched portrait of assassinated presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.

The March 23, 1994, death of Colosio, a reformer on the cusp of winning the presidency who promised a more just and democratic country, holds a space in the Mexican consciousness like the 1963 killing of President John F. Kennedy does in the United States. 

Angel Rodríguez Ávila, El Califa de León’s chef, said he often served Colosio, who frequented the taco stand, sometimes alone, sometimes with a contingent, before two bullets hit the candidate in the head and stomach during a campaign stop in Lomas Taurina, Tijuana, and forever altered Mexico’s political firmament. 

“There are many things we don’t know and will never know [about Colosio’s assassination],” said Rodríguez Ávila, while grilling cuts of salted steak and pork this past Tuesday at the taco stand that is the first to receive a Michelin star in the country. 

“Maybe it’s better if it stays like that.” 

Days earlier, on Nov. 8, Mexican federal authorities arrested a 64-year-old man in Tijuana in connection with Colosio’s killing.   

The arrest of Jorge Antonio Sánchez Ortega, a former intelligence officer from a now-defunct federal agency, added another layer to one of most complex, loaded and pivotal events in Mexico’s modern history.      

Through the arrest, the administration of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is challenging what has been the long-held official story around Colosio’s assassination. 

A successful prosecution by the Attorney General’s office of Sánchez Ortega would go a long way in proving a theory originally rasied and then discarded by the first special prosecutor assigned to the case that Colosio’s killing was the result of a plot concocted by actors within or connected to the machinery of the state — that the hit on Colosio was an inside job.

The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

The office of Sen. Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas, Luis Donaldo Colosio’s son, said he would not comment on the arrest of Sánchez Ortega. Colosio Riojas, part of the Citizen’s Movement party, has yet to speak publicly on the arrest.  

For the better part of the last 30 years, the official version of events, backed by three out of four special investigations into the case, stated that Colosio was killed by two bullets fired from a Taurus .38 Special revolver held by Mario Aburto, who was 23 at the time and acted alone. 

A video camera filming Colosio’s movement through a swarming crowd captured the image of a revolver, which was pointed at Colosio’s head and appeared to fire at point-blank range. It’s not clear from the video who was holding the gun. 

Aburto was grabbed by members of the crowd who claimed he was the shooter. Since then, Aburto has remained, officially, the lone shooter responsible for the assassination.