Source : the age
Bogota: A conservative Colombian senator who hoped to be the country’s next president is fighting for his life in hospital after he was shot in the back at a campaign rally, authorities say.
Miguel Uribe Turbay was rushed to hospital in a critical condition after he was shot multiple times while addressing the rally at a park in the western Bogota neighbourhood of Fontibon.
Miguel Uribe Turbay’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, speaks to media outside the hospital on Sunday.Credit: AP
Images circulating on social media showed a person firing several shots at the senator from behind, apparently hitting his head before he collapsed. Others show the 39-year-old covered in blood, apparently with a head wound, being held by several people.
“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 three-year-old son, María Claudia Tarazona, said in a statement.
Uribe Turbay is recovering in intensive care after undergoing neurosurgery and a procedure on his left thigh, said the Fundación Santa Fe hospital, where he is being treated. His condition was described as “extremely serious”, and 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 father was a businessman and union leader. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation.
Miguel Uribe Turbay (centre, in blue tie) was shot numerous times at close range during a campaign rally in central Bogota on Saturday. Credit: AP
An ambulance carrying Miguel Uribe Turbay leaves the Medicentro hospital for the Santa Fe Foundation hospital, where he underwent urgent surgery.Credit: AP
Bogota mayor Carlos Galán visited the hospital on Sunday, saying Uribe Turbay “survived the procedure; these are critical moments and hours for his survival”.
Former presidents Álvaro Uribe, who is no relation, and César Gaviria also visited the clinic, along with senators, city council members and other politicians, including former senator Ingrid Betancourt.
The Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating Saturday’s shooting, said the senator received several gunshot wounds from close range in the attack, which also injured two others. The statement from the office said 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.
Investigators inspect the scene where Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in a Bogota park.Credit: AP
Miguel Uribe Turbay’s father (top left) embraces relatives outside the hospital where his son was being treated.Credit: AP
“Respect life, that’s the red line,” President Gustavo Petro said in a message posted on his X account. Shortly after making the post, Petro cancelled a planned trip to France “due to the seriousness of the events”, according to a presidential statement.
Late on Saturday night, after leading an extraordinary Security Council session, Colombia’s first leftist president 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 leftist President Gustavo Petro “to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials”.
People march to the hospital where Colombian senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is being treated on Sunday.Credit: AP
Colombians gather to pray for Uribe Turbay on Sunday.Credit: AP
“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 senator’s opposition party, Democratic Centre, described the attack on Uribe Turbay as serious and “an unacceptable act of violence”.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government.
Police stand guard outside the Medicentro hospital on Saturday, where Uribe Turbay was initially treated.Credit: AP
Police said Uribe Turbay had been accompanied by councilman Andres Barrios and 20 other people when he was shot.
Colombia will hold a presidential election on May 31, 2026, marking the end of the current term of Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president. Uribe Turbay announced his presidential bid in March.
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”/
In Colombia, former president Alvaro Uribe, who is not related to Uribe Turbay but who represented the same party, said: “They attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague”.
AP, Reuters
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