Colombian senator Uribe shows little response to treatment after shooting
Colombian senator Miguel Uribe was shot in the head as he was addressing a campaign event on June 7 in a public park in the capital. PHOTO: AFP
BOGOTA - Colombian senator Miguel Uribe, a potential presidential contender, remains in critical condition and has shown little response to treatment after being shot in Bogota on June 7, the hospital treating him said on June 9.
Mr Uribe, 39, is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party and was shot in the head as he was addressing a campaign event on June 7 in a public park in the capital.
'His condition is extremely serious,' the Santa Fe Foundation hospital said in a statement. 'Therefore the prognosis remains cautious.'
The shooting, which was caught on video, has shaken Colombia, evoking the political violence of previous decades.
Mr Uribe comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather Julio Cesar Turbay was president from 1978 to 1982 and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a rescue operation after being kidnapped by an armed group led by drug lord Pablo Escobar. He is not related to former president Alvaro Uribe, however.
Police officers at the Santa Fe Foundation hospital in Bogota on June 9.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in conflict with leftist rebels and criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries.
Leftist president Gustavo Petro has vowed to bring peace, negotiating with rebel groups to get them to put down their arms, but with little success.
Mr Petro on June 8 said that he had ordered additional security for government officials and opposition members in response to more threats, though the details of the threats were not revealed.
It is not known why Mr Uribe, who was vying for the candidacy of his party, was attacked. He was polling well behind other party candidates at the time of the shooting.
A young teen found to be carrying a 9mm pistol was arrested after the shooting. The gun was purchased in Arizona, the head of police said, and the authorities are investigating how it reached Colombia.
The authorities had yet to interrogate the boy as he was receiving medical care, Attorney-General Luz Adriana Camacho said on June 9. However, she said that if the teen were a gun-for-hire, he would likely have little information about the hirer's motive. REUTERS
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