[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 35 (Thursday, March 24, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          LUIS DONALDO COLOSIO

  Mr. President, today the people of Mexico are mourning the tragic and 
untimely death of Luis Donaldo Colosio, the presidential candidate who 
was shot and killed last evening while at a campaign stop in northern 
Mexico. Mr. Colosio had been widely expected to succeed President 
Carlos Salinas de Gortari in the election scheduled for this August.
  I am sure I speak for all of my colleagues when I say our thoughts 
and prayers are with the Colosio family and with the people of Mexico 
who have endured a devastating and terrible loss over this past 24 
hours. As a nation that has experienced its own share of political 
tragedies, I think we have some understanding in this country of what 
it is like when a young and promising leader is suddenly and 
unexpectedly taken away. Surely, this is what has happened to the 
people of Mexico over the course of the past day.
  Mr. President, Mr. Colosio was a truly bright star, one of that 
nation's most gifted and intelligent leaders. As the secretary of 
social development in the Salinas cabinet, he had demonstrated a 
compassion for the underprivileged and an understanding of the need for 
change, meeting on an almost daily basis with peasant farmers and 
impoverished Mexicans in need of help. In fact, when he was shot last 
evening, Mr. Colosio had just finished giving a speech to several 
thousand people in Lomas Taurinas, an impoverished neighborhood on the 
outskirts of Tijuana.
  This morning President Clinton issued a statement offering his 
condolences to the Mexican people and to the family of Mr. Colosio, and 
I commend him for doing so. The death of Mr. Colosio comes at a crucial 
moment in Mexico's history, one which has seen a wide range of reforms, 
both political and economic, as a result of the initiatives of the 
Salinas government. I am confident, Mr. President, that the pace of 
reform and change in Mexico, as well as the rapidly strengthening ties 
between our two nations, will outlive this terrible tragedy.
  Mr. President, we do not yet know all of the circumstances 
surrounding this tragedy in Mexico. What we do know is that last 
evening Mexico lost one of its most promising leaders, a man who 
understood the past but also embraced with enthusiasm the future. In 
Mexico and in the United States and indeed throughout the entire 
hemisphere, he will be sorely missed, and our prayers and thoughts go 
to his family and to the people of Mexico.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. KERREY). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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