The Attorney General's Office states that yesterday Jorge Amaral Muñoz was put at the disposal of the Fifth District Judge in the state of Baja California, based on the arrest warrant issued for him for alleged perjury and for giving false information before authorities other than the judicial ones. Jorge Amaral Muñoz was the main witness for the prosecution during the trial of Othon Cortes Vazquez, an alleged accomplice in the homicide of Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta.

During the said proceedings, Jorge Amaral Muñoz stated before the Federal Public Ministry and the Judge, that he had seen Othon Cortez fire the second shot at the late presidential candidate. However his testimony was rejected both by the First Instance Judge and the Magistrate assigned to the appeals trial, among others, because he did not made his statements against the accused when he first appeared before the Public Ministry agent, but in statements made10 months after the Lomas Taurinas events and five months after his first deposition.

At the time, the Judge noted there were inconsistencies regarding the spot from which the witness said he saw the facts, that during the respective judicial inspections, the spot was set at 17 meters away from the scene of the homicide, according to the facts given in his statements, then at 11 meters, according to the spot he actually picked during the inspection of the facts, also it is unlikely that from the said location he could have seen in full detail how a man, he later identified as Othon Cortez  Vazquez, had fired the second shot.

In addition, the Judge noted that during the judicial exam of the pictures made on August 29, 1995, and January 15, 1996, it can be clearly seen that at the time of the attack, the right hand of the accused is resting on the left shoulder of General  Domiro Garcia Reyes, and therefore, the accused could not have fired with that hand, as the witness Amaral had stated he had.

Furthermore, during a face to face confrontation, the witness said that maybe he had made a mistake, but that in any case it was up to the accused to prove he was mistaken.

Because of the contradictions and the inconsistencies noted in the statements made by Jorge Amaral, and which were highlighted by the judicial authorities involved in the trial, the Special Prosecutor's Office summoned him again for him to elaborate on his statements before the Ministry, and clear the doubts his previous statements had generated.

On amplifying on his statement on May 9, 1997, Jorge Amaral Muñoz indicated he said he always saw a weapon being held in front of Othon Cortes Vazquez; however he could not tell for sure whether it had been Cortes' hand, and that at the scene of the facts he saw two weapons, the one that was fired right next to the candidate and the one in front of Othon, although he could not tell what kind of weapon it was, since he only saw the flash it made, and a black revolver he saw on the ground. He added that what he saw was the flash, but does not claim and never could tell for sure whether the hand that fired was Othon Cortes' or not.

Given the flagrant and obvious contradictions found in the statements made by this witness, a preliminary investigation was undertaken, since there were reasons to believe perjury had been committed. Based on preliminary investigation SE/001/97, on January 18, 1999, the Special Prosecutor's Office brought charges against Jorge Amaral Muñoz for making false statements before an authority other than a judicial one and for perjury, before the District Judge in Baja California.

On February 3, that same year, the District Judge ruled the Federal Public Ministry had given enough evidence to show false statements might have led to believe Othon Cortez carried a weapon on the day of the homicide of Luis Donaldo Colosio, in particular that he saw Cortez fire the weapon, and therefore issued an arrest warrant for Jorge Amaral, The evidence brought before the Judge and especially the expert s' analysis showed Mario Aburto was the one who fired both shots.

On hearing an arrest warrant had been issued for him. Jorge Amaral Muñoz left his home in Tijuana. The investigations made to locate him indicated he was in Texas, therefore a provisional arrest warrant pending extradition was filed for him before the United States government, to have him answer for the crimes he allegedly committed.

Also, within the terms of the existing international cooperation agreements, the FBI was asked to help locate him in that country. This way, the investigators found that he and his wife planned to cross the border in Detroit, Michigan, to Canada. However, this could not be done because the passport of Amaral Muñoz had expired and when he turned up at the Mexican Consulate in Detroit to renew it, he was arrested by immigration agents, since he had entered the country illegally.

During the deportation procedure, Jorge Amaral sought political asylum in the United States of America, claiming he was a victim of political persecution but was unable to prove his claim, because it is obviously false. On February 10, the Immigration Court of the state of Michigan ruled the political asylum request did not proceed; however Amaral appealed the decision before the Court of Appeals of Immigration. The latter court upheld on October 11, this year, the ruling of the Immigration Court and issued an immediate deportation order, which was not carried out because the accused filed for a suspension of the order, which was turned down yesterday, and so the existing deportation order was executed then.

Jorge Amaral arrived in Mexico City at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday, and was turned over to our country's immigration authorities at the Benito Juarez International Airport in this city. The Federal Judicial Police immediately served the arrest warrant for him and transferred him to Tijuana, aboard a plane of the Attorney General's Office, that left at 8:40 p.m. and arrived to the said city at 10:30 p.m. (local time), where at 10:50 p.m. he was put at the disposal of the Judge at the "La Mesa" jail in the city of Tijuana. The turning over, the reception and transference of the detained to the city of Tijuana, as well as his transference to the jail, where he is held at the disposal of the judge, were witnessed by an Assistant Inspector and a National Human Rights M.D., who testified the human rights of the detained had been respected.

The claims made by Jorge Amaral in the media that he is the victim of political persecution, have no basis whatsoever, since his search only was done to serve a judicial order; it is false that he was "forced" to change his statements, he changed them himself over time, and contradicted himself, as was shown during the different preliminary investigations he was under, and during the trial of Othon Cortez.

It is regrettable, that in an obvious attempt to defend himself, he misled public opinion to his benefit, as was shown in an interview aired on television, where the "witness" forgot to mention his crucial part in the trial of Othon Cortez Vazquez.

More information on the contradictions and the role played by Jorge Amaral Muñoz in the trial of Othon Cortes Vazquez is available in the Report on the Investigation of the Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta Homicide, Volume I, pages 549 to 562, and Volume II, pages 64 to 69.