ivate security team for Colosio on the day of the assassination. Federal investigators arrested De la Sota in February of this year on charges of giving false and conflicting testimony about the assassination. Despite his 20 years' experience in police work, De la Sota claimed that the gunshots set off a diabetic attack which kept him from seeing what was happening. He was released on Feb. 28 on a $7,000 bond. At the time of his arrest, Mexican officials indicated off the record that De la Sota was closely connected to the assassination. Currently two men are under arrest for the murder: Mario Aburto Martinez, a factory worker who allegedly shot Colosio in the head from the right side, and Othon Cortes Vazquez, who is charged with shooting the candidate in the abdomen from the left side. Cortes Vazquez and De la Sota knew each other. Cortes Vazquez worked for various PRI officials as a driver and messenger, and on the day of the murder he was driving for Gen. Domiro Roberto Garcia Reyes, who was in charge of the official security for Colosio. One of the videotapes held by the attorney general's office reportedly shows De la Sota and another member of the private security team, Hector Javier Hernandez Thomassiny, guarding Colosio's left side. Cortes Vazquez suddenly "replaced" the two experienced bodyguards just before he and Aburto shot the candidate, according to people who saw the tape. As soon as Colosio fell, De la Sota and Hernandez Thomassiny allegedly seized Aburto and let Cortes Vazquez escape. The uprising in Chiapas and the murder of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio are two examples of how Mexico's social and civic institutions are crumbling under the pressure of drug-related lawlessness and corruption, factors that are making Mexico a very dangerous place even for members of the ruling elite. Indeed, the same environment of lawlessness ...
