Political Violence and Fiction in Mexican Film: the Case of Carlos Bolado’s Colosio: el asesinato / Colosio: the Assassination (2012)

Abstract

The year 2014 marked the twentieth anniversary of the assassination of Luis Donaldo Colosio, presidential candidate for the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional / Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The impact of this event on perceptions of the PRI and the Mexican political system has prevailed within the public imaginary, and continues to fuel conspiracy theories in relation to the possible motives for the candidate’s assassination. This article examines a filmic exploration of this traumatic moment in recent Mexican history, an event that changed the way the nation viewed its then President, Carlos Salinas de Gortari’s, and subsequent PRI governments. At this moment the public mood was transformed, from a prevailing sense of false security, driven by the dictums of neoliberal policies under the banner of Salinismo, to a state of shock and fear of a society spiralling into increasing violence and an economic downturn, with repercussions for years to follow. Framing Colosio: el asesinato (Colosio: the Assassination) within discourses of the thriller genre, and borrowing from theoretical notions of ‘conspiracism’, I explore the significance of Carlos Bolado’s film in light of the timing of its release (prior to the 2012 presidential elections), and the contents of its narrative. Moreover, the article explores the role of history and fiction in this detective story, alongside the way in which film as a medium processes traumatic events. Ultimately, I examine how the film’s metanarrative format provides the exploratory premise from which to access otherwise un-visualized and complex theories surrounding the case.

Keywords:

• political thriller
• Mexico
• Colosio
• film

Notes

1. See, amongst others, Arriaga, Tapia, and Gisela (1994); Cortés and Cordero (1996); Samperio (1995); Quintero and Rodríguez Zárate (1994); and the documentary El caso Colosio (2010 dir. Alan Tomlinson).

2. See Preston, Julia, ‘Mexican Plot: Salinas Family, Swiss Bank and $84 Million’, The New York Times (November 25, 1995), accessed on http://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/25/world/mexican-plot-salinas-family-swiss-bank-and-84-million.html.

3. Enrique Salinas de Gortari was the younger brother of Raul and Carlos. He was found dead in 2004. See Daviliaand Chavez (2004).

4. Villamil Jenaro. 2013. Raúl, de la mano de Carlos, símbolo de impunidad. Proceso, August 4: 7.

5. See, amongst others, Aviña (2012); Jordán (2012: 11); Calderón (2012: 7).

6. In La lay de Herodes, for example, there is an attempt on the life of a politician standing for Governor during his campaign trail which is conducted in broad daylight. In Conejo en la luna, a presidential candidate, opposed to the ruling party’s allegiance with drug-dealers, is shot at point blank whilst in his car one morning, having just left a media conference. Moreover, the economic repercussions of Colosio’s assassination in 1994 are also explored in Leon Serment’s El efecto Tequila (The Tequila Effect) (2010).

7. This can be seen in the media’s response to the event in the following weeks, and in the reporters’ cries when the news broke out on the steps of the hospital in Tijuana, and which were captured on camera. Displays of mourning were also embodied in the appearance of black ribbons that were displayed, painted on, or worn in public spaces. Additionally, the same black ribbon emblem was used to frame the campaign images of the candidate, distributed all over the country, so as to reference the state of national mourning.

8. It is well known that following her husband’s assassination Diana Laura would no longer engage in friendly dialogue with the president, refusing to answer his phone calls and rebuffing the said letter exonerating Camacho. See Quintero and Rodriguez (1994: 113).

9. The ‘destape, or unveiling of the new presidential candidate, consisted of a system (no longer in place) whereby the outgoing president would introduce his chosen candidate to run for the presidency, on the eve of his last year in office.

10. In the film Colosio prepares and delivers his speech, which includes the accusatory proclamation: ‘Es la hora de cerrarle el paso al influyentismo, a la corrupción y a la impunidad’ (it is time to close the door on influentialism, corruption and impunity).

11. ‘Los mexicanos estaban recibiendo pruebas de una conspiración para matar a un político importante, y la conspiración parecía venir del epicentro mismo del partido que se preciaba de haber mantenido la estabilidad de México durante casi siete décadas’ (Mexicans were in receipt of proof of a conspiracy to kill an important politician, and the conspiracy appeared to originate from the epicenter of a party that had credited itself with having maintained stability in Mexico for nearly seven decades) (Oppenheimer 1996: 199).