At least seven people have been accused of helping kill the man who probably would have become Mexico's next president, including the head of the candidate's local security and three men hired to guard him.
Others may also have conspired to kill Luis Donaldo Colosio at a March 23 campaign rally in Tijuana, said special prosecutor Miguel Montes Garcia.Monday's announcement, which dramatically widens the number of suspects in Mexico's most serious political assassination since 1928, tends to reinforce suspicions of a broader conspiracy.
The four security men, who were hired only for the day, are in custody, and two others are being sought, said Montes, a former supreme court justice. The confessed gunman, Mario Aburto Martinez, was arrested shortly after Colosio was killed and is in custody.
The government had initially insisted that Aburto, 23, acted alone. Officials later said several people might have been involved, while discounting a wider conspiracy.
Opinion polls have repeatedly indicated that Mexicans believe there was a conspiracy to kill Colosio. Widely varying theories of who did it, and why, have run rampant.
Some Mexicans believe high-ranking members of Mexico's political establishment, and possibly members of the ruling party, were behind the killing as part of party infighting. Others think it may be connected to the Chiapas state Indian uprising or to drug gangs based in Tijuana.
Colosio, as the candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was seen as a shoo-in for the Aug. 21 election. The PRI has not lost an election since it came to power 65 years ago.
Colosio was killed by two gunshots to the head and abdomen as he walked through a crowd after a speech. Montes, the prosecutor, said Aburto is still accused of firing the shots.
Montes did not discuss a possible motive or broader conspiracy. He said the seven worked together "with the common goal of depriving Luis Donaldo Colosio of his life."
He said one guard, Tranquilino Sanchez, interfered with Gen. Domiro Garcia Reyes, one of the soldiers guarding Colosio, "easing the access of Mario Aburto Martinez to a point close and alongside Colosio."
Another guard, Vicente Mayoral Valenzuela, "opened a path toward the victim" for Aburto, Montes said.
Mayoral Valenzuela's son, Rodolfo Mayoral Esquer, shoved and interfered with another army security man, Col. Federico Antonio Reynaldos del Pozo, "managing to distract him and thereby diminish the security measures."
Rodolfo Rivapalacio, who headed the local security detail, was accused of hiring the other three men. Rivapalacio was a member of the Tijuana Municipal Committee for the PRI.
Rivapalacio and Mayoral Valenzuela have both been identified as former Baja California state policemen. Sanchez, 57, was a former nightclub guard.
Two other men who have not been identified remain at large, Montes said. He said one threw himself to the ground in front of Colosio, apparently trying to block the candidate's path, and the other also took "clear actions to block" Colosio's movement and ducked just before Aburto fired.
The prosecutor said the allegations are based largely on a study of videotape and photographs, buttressed by testimony.
Aburto, a factory worker, has told police he went to the rally alone and had intended only to wound Colosio in order to win news coverage for his views on the rebellion by Indians in southern Mexicoalso.