【英语语言学习】墨西哥灾难性的一年

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Twenty years ago today, shots rang out in a poor neighborhood in Tijuana. That sound reverberated 1 throughout Mexico. The victim was the man hand-picked by the country's dominant 2 ruling party to win the country's presidential election. The crime and its unanswered questions weakened that party's standing 3 and would mark a catastrophic year for Mexico.
NPR's Carrie Kahn looks back at a killing 4 that was similar to the assassination 5 of John F. Kennedy, in that it shook a country to its core.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE 6: Like Kennedy's assassination, the murder of Luis Donaldo Colosio had a lone 7 gunman, countless 8 conspiracy 9 theories and a grainy video.
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KAHN: Filmed from behind the crowd in a campaign rally in Tijuana, Colosio is easily spotted 10 by his curly hair. Loud Norteno music blares as he's jostled by the crowd. Suddenly, a black pistol emerges just above the candidate's right ear, then fires.
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KAHN: The crowd screams. The bloodied 11 candidate is lifted out of the dust and rushed to a nearby hospital. The crowd sets upon the gunman, beating him until he's thrown into a car and whisked away.
DENISE DRESSER: It was an event that put the country in a state of chaos 12, of uncertainty 13. It marked the beginning of the year of living dangerously, 1994.
KAHN: Denise Dresser, a political analyst 14, says 1994 was supposed to be Mexico's moment. The North American Free Trade Agreement took off and the country waited for its promised prosperity. Instead, the year started with an armed Zapatista uprising in the south. Colosio was then shot in March, foreign capital fled and by year's end the Mexican economy collapsed 15.
DRESSER: Expectations that everyone had at the time about Mexico heading towards the first world and then realizing that with that assassination and its consequences and its ripple 16 effects, that was not going to be the case.
KAHN: For one, the assassination would create cracks in the iron grip the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had held on Mexico for the past 65 years. First, the party tried to pin the blame on Ernesto Ruffo Appel the opposition 17 governor in Baja California, home to Tijuana.
ERNESTO RUFFO APPEL: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Ruffo recalls Mexico's attorney general at the time storming into his office and saying you did it. Your people did this. Stunned 18, Ruffo reminded the attorney general that it was the local PRI party that had taken control of Colosio's security that day. Quickly, attention shifted to that security detail - former state police officers, some with dubious 19 backgrounds. That was one of many suspicious turns that dominated the investigation 20 and fueled accusations 21 all the way through the PRI party ranks up to then-President Carlos Salinas. Dora Elena Cortes, a longtime Tijuana reporter, says a parade of incompetent 22 special prosecutors 23 did little to curb 24 the speculation 25.
DORA ELENA CORTES: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Cortes says investigators 26 never followed up on crucial evidence or interviewed key witnesses. Only one person remains 27 jailed for the murder - Mario Aburto, a local factory worker who says he committed the crime to call attention to his pacifistic beliefs. But Cortes says evidence of a possible second gunman was overwhelming. Colosio was shot twice in the head and in the stomach, yet only one bullet was ever recovered. A doctor told reporters his death was caused by two bullets of different calibers. A federal agent in a bloody 28 shirt and gunpowder 29 residue 30 on his hands was arrested at the scene and later set free. One man was ultimately accused of being the second gunman and arrested a year after the crime.
OTHON CORTEZ: (Foreign language spoken)
KAHN: Othon Cortez, a PRI Party chauffeur 31, says he was tortured and imprisoned 32 for two years. Ultimately, he was freed for lack of evidence.
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KAHN: Cortez, who now works at Tijuana's zoo, says Mexico's judicial 33 system remains as flawed as it was 20 years ago and no one believes a lone gunman killed Colosio. Two decades later, many in Mexico still wait for justice to be served. Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Tijuana.
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