Colombia's potential presidential contender Miguel Uribe shot, suspect arrested

Irish Times

5 hours ago

Colombian
senator Miguel Uribe, a potential presidential contender, survived an initial operation for his injuries after
being shot in Bogotá on Saturday
, said his wife and the hospital treating him, although he remains in intensive care.
Mr Uribe (39) is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party and was shot in the head during a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood.
A boy under 15 years of age was arrested after the shooting, the attorney general's office said in a statement on Saturday, adding he was carrying a 9m Glock-type pistol.
The government said it is investigating if there were other potential perpetrators. Leftist president Gustavo Petro urged an investigation into who had ordered the attack in remarks late on Saturday.
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Campaigning is just beginning for the country's 2026 presidential election and Uribe, who is from a prominent political family, does not have a well-known platform so far.
It was unclear why he was targeted in the attack. Though he has talked about the need to improve security and about having personally suffered in the country's conflict, many other potential candidates, including others from his party, have also said steps must be taken to tackle crime.
Mr Uribe's grandfather was president from 1978 to 1982, while his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
'Miguel came out of surgery, he made it. Every hour is a critical hour. He fought his first battle, and it went well,' his wife Maria Claudia Tarazona told local media on Sunday. 'This will take time.'
The couple are parents to a young son.
In a statement, the Santa Fe Foundation hospital where Mr Uribe was treated said he had procedures on his head and his left thigh, and remained in intensive care as doctors seek to stabilise his condition.
Mr Uribe's party said in a statement that armed subjects shot him from behind. Videos on social media showed a man, identified as Uribe, being tended to after the shooting. He appeared to be bleeding from his head.
Bogota's mayor, Carlos Galan, whose own presidential candidate father was assassinated in 1989, addressed journalists outside the hospital overnight, saying he had asked for increased protection for all candidates in Bogotá and for Mr Uribe's family.
The Colombian government is offering some $730,000 as a reward for information in the case.
'For now there is nothing more than hypothesis,' Mr Petro said, and that failures in security protocols would also be looked into. Mr Uribe had the bodyguard protection provided for senators and other officials.
Petro sympathised with Mr Uribe's family in a message on X, saying: 'I don't know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland.'
People gathered outside the hospital in northern Bogotá, staging candlelight vigils and praying, while others carried Colombian flags. A march of support was planned for Sunday.
Several nations on Sunday including Brazil, Italy, Spain, Uruguay and Paraguay condemned the attack, as did the Venezuelan government and opposition.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said in a statement that the US 'condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination' of Uribe, blaming Mr Petro's 'inflammatory rhetoric' for the violence.
Mr Petro was an outspoken critic of US president Donald Trump's deportation policies earlier this year, but has been less vocal since Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions on the Andean country.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government. - Reuters