Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas

Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas (born 31 July 1985) is a Mexican lawyer and politician. He is the mayor of the city of Monterrey and was a legislator in the Congress of Nuevo León from 1 September 2018 to 1 February 2021. He is the son of Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, the PRI presidential candidate, who was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana during the Mexican presidential campaign of 1994.

Early life and education
Colosio was born on 31 July 1985 in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora to Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta and Diana Laura Riojas. His father and grandfather were both politicians affiliated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), with his father being the PRI's presidential candidate for the 1994 election. His mother was an economist. Colosio has a younger sister named Mariana.

When Colosio was eight years old, he and his sister became orphans after their father was assassinated at a campaign rally in Tijuana in 1994, followed by their mother's death from pancreatic cancer eight months later. The siblings were then adopted by their maternal aunt and uncle, Hilda Elisa Riojas and Fernando Cantú, and moved to Monterrey, Nuevo León.

Education
Colosio attended the Mexico City campus of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, where he earned a Bachelor of Laws in 2010. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in corporate law from the University of Monterrey.

Early political career
Colosio was initially discouraged by his family from pursuing a political career. In 2006, he received an offer to be a candidate for plurinominal deputy, which he rejected.

Shortly after graduating as a lawyer in 2010, Colosio co-founded the law firm "Basave Colosio Sánchez" with Agustín Basave Alanís, Alejandro Basave, and Manuel Sánchez O’Sullivan. At the firm, they began providing parliamentary consultancy services to various politicians. It was during this time that he made contact with leaders of Citizens' Movement, who offered him a candidacy for an elected office in the 2018 elections, a proposition he ultimately accepted in 2017.

In January 2018, Samuel García, the then coordinator of Citizens' Movement in Nuevo León, introduced Colosio as a candidate for a popularly elected office, either at the federal or state level.

Local deputy
Colosio was nominated by Citizens' Movement as a candidate for the 4th district of Nuevo León in the 2018 state election. He won with 33.41% of the votes, defeating the incumbent, Arturo Salinas Garza, by 6.78 points. He was the only candidate from Citizens' Movement to secure a seat through first-past-the-post voting in the election.

On 1 September 2018, he was sworn in as a member of the LXXV Legislature of the Congress of Nuevo León.

Election
On 25 January 2021, Colosio registered as a precandidate for municipal president of Monterrey under Citizens' Movement. He won the election with over 47% of the vote in an eight-way race, beating his nearest opponent by over 16 points.

Tenure
Colosio was inaugurated on 29 September 2021 at 11:55 p.m.

Parks and green corridors
Colosio tackled the lack of green areas by rehabilitating and reforesting parks and connecting these with tree-lined paths, or green corridors. The creation of these corridors involved expanding sidewalks, installing bike lanes, and planting trees along specific avenues.

As part of this initiative, parks such as Parque Lago and Parque Alameda were rehabilitated. The Puente Verde (in English: Green Bridge), a green corridor spanning the Santa Catarina River (Mexico), was constructed and inaugurated in 2023, connecting Fundidora Park and Parque España. Green corridors were developed along avenues in downtown Monterrey as part of Revive al Centro, which aimed to renovate downtown Monterrey's urban image. However, criticism emerged regarding the slow pace of construction for the corridors and the traffic caused by lane closures.

Roads
Between 2022 and 2023, the Monterrey government repaved about 729 thousand cubic meters of pavement throughout the municipality, covering eight of the city's major avenues and streets in 46 different neighborhoods.

In August 2023, Colosio announced the construction of a roundabout around Monterrey's Independence Arch to protect it from vehicles, along with improvements to the existing crosswalks. By November 2023, the roundabout was completed.

Crime and policing
In September 2022, Colosio announced his security strategy, named Monterrey Protege (in English: Monterrey Protects). This strategy involved expanding police coverage from 177 to 343 neighborhoods, repairing 1,700 CCTV cameras, and adding 444 patrol cars. Colosio also implemented a 15% increase in police salaries at the start of his tenure, and in February 2024, he further increased it by an additional 20%.

Despite his efforts, the homicide rate in Monterrey has remained relatively unchanged during Colosio's tenure, only decreasing from 226 to 223 annual deaths between 2021 and 2023. However, there has been a decrease in the perception of insecurity, with 69.8% feeling unsafe in December 2022 and only 58.6% feeling unsafe in December 2023, the lowest since 2016. Confidence in the police has also increased from 64.9% to 68.2% between 2022 and 2023.

Leave
On 16 February 2024, the Monterrey City Council approved Colosio's request for a temporary leave to pursue one of Nuevo León's Senate seats in the 2024 elections. The leave was granted from the last minute of 29 February 2024 to 3 June 2024. Betsabé Rocha Nieto was appointed as the interim municipal president during Colosio's absence.