Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe dies two months after shooting
Uribe, a member of a prominent political family and a legislator for the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogota on June 7 where he was speaking to try to secure his party's nomination for 2026 elections.
His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, announced his death on social media. 'I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you,' she wrote. 'Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children.'
The attack was the worst outbreak of political violence in about two decades and evoked memories of the turbulent years of the 1980s and 1990s, when four presidential candidates were murdered in separate attacks blamed on drug cartels.
The capital's Santa Fe Foundation hospital — where supporters held regular vigils during Uribe's treatment and repeated operations — said over the weekend his condition had worsened because of a haemorrhage in his central nervous system. On Monday, it said he had died at 1.56am.
Former President Alvaro Uribe, the leader of the senator's Democratic Centre party and no relation to the deceased legislator, wrote on X that 'evil destroys everything; they killed hope'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
11-08-2025
- TimesLIVE
Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe dies two months after shooting
Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who was shot in the head at a campaign event two months ago, died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 39, the hospital treating him said. Uribe, a member of a prominent political family and a legislator for the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogota on June 7 where he was speaking to try to secure his party's nomination for 2026 elections. His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, announced his death on social media. 'I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you,' she wrote. 'Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children.' The attack was the worst outbreak of political violence in about two decades and evoked memories of the turbulent years of the 1980s and 1990s, when four presidential candidates were murdered in separate attacks blamed on drug cartels. The capital's Santa Fe Foundation hospital — where supporters held regular vigils during Uribe's treatment and repeated operations — said over the weekend his condition had worsened because of a haemorrhage in his central nervous system. On Monday, it said he had died at 1.56am. Former President Alvaro Uribe, the leader of the senator's Democratic Centre party and no relation to the deceased legislator, wrote on X that 'evil destroys everything; they killed hope'.
eNCA
11-08-2025
- eNCA
Colombia presidential hopeful dies after June rally shooting
BOGOTA - Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has died two months after being shot at a campaign rally, his family said Monday, as the attack rekindled fears of a return to the nation's violent past. The 39-year-old conservative senator, a grandson of former president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978-1982), was shot in the head and leg on 7 June at a rally in the capital Bogota. Despite signs of progress in recent weeks, his doctors on Saturday announced he had suffered a new brain hemorrhage. "Rest in peace, love of my life," his wife Maria Claudia Tarazona wrote Monday morning in a post on Instagram. "Thank you for a life full of love." Authorities have arrested six suspects linked to the attack, including the alleged shooter, a 15-year-old boy captured at the scene by Uribe's bodyguards. Following a nationwide manhunt, police announced the arrest of an alleged mastermind behind the attack, Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez, alias "El Costeno." Police have also pointed to a dissident group of the defunct FARC guerrilla group as being behind the assassination. The attack on Uribe, a leading candidate ahead of the 2026 presidential election, has reopened old wounds in a country wracked by violence. His own mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a botched 1991 police operation to free her from cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel. Four presidential candidates were assassinated during the worst phase of violence in the 1980s and 1990s under Escobar, who terrorized citizens of Bogota, Medellin and elsewhere with a campaign of bombings. - 'Evil destroys everything' - "Today is a sad day for the country," Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez said on social media. "Violence cannot continue to mark our destiny. Democracy is not built with bullets or blood, it is built with respect, with dialogue." Uribe has been a strong critic of Colombia's first left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, who has sought in vain to make peace with the country's various remaining armed groups. He announced in October that he would seek to succeed the term-limited Petro in the May 2026 presidential election. Uribe was elected to Bogota's city council at age 26, later becoming its youngest-ever chairperson and then the mayor's right-hand man. In 2019, he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Bogota, but three years later, he was elected a senator -- receiving the most votes of any candidate in the country. He took a seat with the conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former president Alvaro Uribe, no relation. "Evil destroys everything, they killed hope. May Miguel's struggle be a light that illuminates Colombia's rightful path," former president Uribe wrote on X. In recent months, Petro, a former left-wing guerrilla, has been accused of dialing up the political temperature by labelling his right-wing opponents "Nazis." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a frequent critic of the leftist Petro government, demanded justice following the announcement of Uribe's death. "The United States stands in solidarity with his family, the Colombian people, both in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible," Rubio said.
Eyewitness News
04-08-2025
- Eyewitness News
Sudan accuses UAE of bringing in Colombian mercenaries to support RSF
PORT SUDAN -Sudan accused the United Arab Emirates on Monday of hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight against the government-aligned army on behalf of its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Since April 2023, war between the Sudanese army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. It has also drawn widespread accusations of foreign involvement -- namely Abu Dhabi's backing of the RSF. "The government of Sudan possesses all the documents and evidence proving the involvement of mercenaries from Colombia and some neighbouring countries, sponsored and funded by the UAE," the foreign ministry said Monday. The UAE has repeatedly denied allegations of arming the RSF, despite reports to the contrary from UN experts, diplomats, US politicians and international organisations. Mercenaries have been spotted on both sides, with reports of Colombian fighters first emerging in the western region of Darfur late last year and corroborated by United Nations experts. This week, the Joint Forces -- a coalition of armed groups in Darfur aligned with the army -- reported more than 80 Colombian mercenaries fighting on the RSF's side in the North Darfur state capital El-Fasher. The coalition said "several Colombian mercenaries involved in drone operations and artillery coordination were killed" in the most recent RSF attempt to seize the city, which it has besieged for over a year. READ: Sudan paramilitaries kill 14 civilians fleeing besieged city: monitor El-Fasher is the last state capital in Darfur still under control of the army, which on Sunday released video footage it said was of "foreign mercenaries believed to be from Colombia". AFP was not immediately able to verify the videos. The ministry said on Monday that it had previously submitted evidence of the foreign fighters' involvement to the UN Security Council, adding their presence was making the conflict a "cross-border terrorist war waged by proxy". A report this year from UN experts monitoring an ongoing arms embargo on Darfur called the accusations of Colombian mercenaries fighting for the RSF credible. Sudan said in December that the Colombian foreign ministry had extended its regret "for the participation of some of its citizens in the war", according to Sudan's state news agency. Retired Colombian soldiers and ex-guerrillas -- hardened by more than half a century of conflict back home -- have turned up in recent years in conflicts in Ukraine, Haiti and Afghanistan. They have previously been recruited by the UAE to fight Huthi rebels in Yemen and to guard oil pipelines in the wealthy Gulf state, according to AFP reporting.
