Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe shot in Bogota

Colombian senator Miguel Uribe, in the running to join next year’s presidential race, is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot at an event in Bogota, according to national police and prosecutors.

The 39-year-old, from the center-right Centro Democrático – or Democratic Center – the biggest opposition party in the South American nation, had expressed his intention to run in next year’s election.

He was shot twice on Saturday afternoon in the capital’s Fontibon district, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Police arrested a 15-year-old carrying a Glock pistol, it said in a statement.

His party said Uribe was shot in the back while he was participating in a campaign event. Video footage of the aftermath showed police and civilians rushing the senator to an ambulance.

“Uribe’s condition is stable, still in critical condition,” Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo said on the phone to local TV network Caracol TV.

Santa Fe Bogota Foundation

The politician’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, posted a message on his X account asking for prayers for his recovery.

“Miguel is fighting for his life right now. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him,” she wrote.

Uribe comes from a prominent Colombian political family. He is the grandson of Julio César Turbay Ayala, who governed the country from 1978 to 1982, and died in 2005.

The young politician’s mother was Diana Turbay, a journalist kidnapped by drug traffickers from the Medellín cartel under Pablo Escobar, and murdered during a rescue operation in 1991. His grandmother, Nydia Quintero de Balcázar, is the founder of the organization Solidarity for Colombia.

The Harvard graduate entered the Senate in 2022, after a career in local Bogota politics.

He is identified with the right wing of Colombian politics, as the standard-bearer of the Democratic Center, championing security and foreign investment.

In October 2024, he announced his presidential bid from the location where his mother was killed, saying that her death shaped his life. “I could have grown up seeking revenge, but I decided to do the right thing: forgive, but never forget,” he said.

With the presidential campaign still in its early stages, the Democratic Center has not yet chosen its official candidate.
The attack drew condemnation from the Colombian government and the Democratic Center, as well as former presidents and world leaders.

President Gustavo Petro expressed his solidarity with the senator’s family in a post on X, saying: “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a wounded homeland.”

The Colombian foreign ministry called the attack “a direct affront to democracy, respect for differences, and the free exercise of politics in our country.” It called on the authorities to “to fully clarify this serious incident.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it “a direct threat to democracy.” He attributed it to “the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government” and urged the Colombian officials to dial back “the inflammatory rhetoric.”

CNN has reached out to Petro’s office for comment.

The Democratic Center party called the shooting “an unacceptable act of violence.”

“We strongly reject this attack, which not only endangers the life of a political leader but also threatens democracy and freedom in Colombia,” it said in a statement.

At least four former presidents – Ernesto Samper, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Juan Manuel Santos and Iván Duque – issued condemnations. Centro Democratico is the party of both Uribe and Duque.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa sent his prayers to Uribe’s family, adding that “we condemn all forms of violence and intolerance.”

In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, when Uribe’s mother was assassinated, Colombia experienced one of its worst periods of political violence, with the murders of several presidential candidates.

Uribe is a prominent member of a new generation of politicians descended from victims of that violence, along with current Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán, son of former Liberal leader Luis Carlos Galán, who was assassinated in 1989.

One of Uribe’s greatest rivals in the Senate, María José Pizarro, is the daughter of Carlos Pizarro Leongómez, assassinated in 1990 while running for president of the leftist M-19.

Source: CNN
--Agencies