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Bogota: Miguel Uribe Turbay was four years old when his journalist mother was shot dead after being kidnapped by the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar during Colombia’s devastating drug wars. The Colombian senator returned to the mountains where she died last year to announce his intention to run for president.
“A place with deep meaning for me,” he said in a social media video in October, the mountains of Copacabana behind him. “It was here that my mother was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar and was killed when I was about to turn five.”
A photo Miguel Uribe Turbay shared on the anniversary of mother Diana Turbay’s death.Credit: Twitter/Miguel Uribe Turbay
Now, in a devastating repeat of family tragedy, the conservative politician is fighting for his life after he was shot in the back on Saturday (Colombian time), leaving his wife and own son – aged three – to pray for his survival.
The attack at a campaign rally in Bogota has shocked the nation and revived memories of an era when political violence deeply affected Colombian public life.
Uribe Turbay – a prominent opposition voice against the leftist government of President Gustavo Petro – was taken to hospital in a critical condition after being shot multiple times while addressing the rally at a park in the western Bogota neighbourhood of Fontibon. He underwent neurosurgery and an operation on his left thigh.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested at the scene with a firearm. Colombia’s government said it was offering a reward for the capture of all those responsible.
Miguel Uribe Turbay’s wife, María Claudia Tarazona, speaks to media outside the hospital on Sunday.Credit: AP
“Miguel continues to fight hard for his life, and I ask each of you to keep praying fervently,” Uribe Turbay’s wife and mother of his son, María Claudia Tarazona, said in a statement on Sunday.
The Fundacion Santa Fe hospital, where the senator is being treated, said he was in intensive care and described his condition as extremely serious. It said his prognosis was reserved.
The senator, who is running for the presidency in 2026, is from a prominent family in Colombia with links to the country’s Liberal Party. His grandfather, Julio César Turbay Ayala, was president from 1978 to 1982, and his father, who was at the hospital with his son on Saturday night, was a businessman and union leader.
His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of Escobar and was fatally shot in the back during a rescue operation in January 1991.
Uribe Turbay (centre, in blue tie) was shot numerous times at close range during a campaign rally in central Bogota on Saturday. Credit: AP
On the 30th anniversary of her death, Uribe Turbay described her as his greatest inspiration.
“My mother gave her life for peace and journalism,” he wrote on X. “Seeking a better future for Colombians, she was murdered by drug traffickers. She’s my greatest inspiration. From her, I learned that principles aren’t negotiable.”
Uribe Turbay entered politics early, being elected to Bogota’s City Council at the age of 25 in 2012. In 2016, he was appointed the city’s secretary of government by then-mayor Enrique Peñalosa. In 2022, he became a senator after being invited to run by former president Álvaro Uribe (no relation) – one of a host of former presidents and politicians who visited Uribe Turbay in hospital.
“They attacked the hope of the country,” Uribe said. “A great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague.”
Uribe Turbay was not considered a frontrunner in next year’s race, according to recent polls, and was still facing competition within his political coalition. In his pre-campaign messaging, he focused heavily on security, seeking to inspire investments and promote economic stability.
After visiting Uribe Turbay in hospital on Sunday, Bogota Mayor Carlos Galán said that while the presidential hopeful had made it through emergency surgery, “these are critical moments and hours for his survival”.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government. Decades ago, politicians and other high-profile people were regularly kidnapped and killed.
Petro cancelled a planned trip to France after the shooting, “due to the seriousness of the events”, a statement said. “Respect life, that’s the red line,” the president wrote on his X account.
Uribe Turbay’s father (left) embraces relatives outside the hospital where his son was being treated.Credit: AP
Late on Saturday night, after leading an extraordinary Security Council session, Petro promised “complete transparency” in the investigation and to find the intellectual authors of the attack. He also promised an investigation into any failures by the senator’s bodyguards.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the “United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe”. He urged Petro “to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials”.
“This is a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government,” Rubio said.
The Attorney-General’s Office, which is investigating Saturday’s shooting, said Uribe Turbay received several gunshot wounds from close range in the attack, which also injured two others.
The senator’s opposition party, Democratic Centre, described the attack on Uribe Turbay as “an unacceptable act of violence”.
Police said Uribe Turbay had been accompanied by councilman Andres Barrios and 20 other people when he was shot.
Reactions poured in from around Latin America. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said “there is no room or justification for violence in a democracy”, and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said: “We condemn all forms of violence and intolerance”.
AP, Reuters
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