Miguel Uribe, leader of Colombian right opposition, shot in Bogota
BOGOTA — Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot Saturday in Bogota, according to the government and his party. There was no immediate confirmation of his condition.
The 39-year-old senator is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The two men are not related.
According to a party statement condemning the attack, the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the capital on Saturday when 'armed subjects shot him in the back.'
The party described the attack as serious but did not disclose further details on his health.
Colombia's presidency issued a statement saying the government 'categorically and forcefully' rejected the violent attack and called for a thorough investigation.
Uribe's mother, the journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a rescue operation after she was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel.
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Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay in 'critical condition' after shooting - as 15-year-old suspect arrested
A Colombian senator running to be the country's next president was shot and "critically" injured at a campaign rally in Bogota, authorities have said. Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was targeted during the campaign event in a park in the Fontibon area of the Colombian capital, according to the Attorney General's office. He suffered two gunshot wounds when armed assailants shot him from behind and appeared to be bleeding from his head as he was helped by aides and people in the crowd, in a video posted on social media. According to a medical report at the Santa Fe Foundation hospital, he was admitted there in a "critical condition" and is still undergoing a "neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure". His wife Maria Claudia Tarazone wrote on X that he is "fighting for his life" and urged Colombians to pray for him. Two other people were injured but the nature of their injuries has not been made public. A suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was arrested at the scene with a firearm and is being treated for a leg injury, police chief General Carlos Triana said. The government is offering a $730,000 (£540,000) reward for information and President Gustavo Petro said the investigation will focus on who ordered the attack. "For now there is nothing more than hypothesis," he said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into. Mr Uribe Turbay, who announced his presidential bid for the right-wing Democratic Center Party in March, was accompanied by a team of 21 people at the time of the shooting, his office said, including councilman Andres Barrios. He was hoping to run in the presidential elections taking place on 31 May next year - and succeed Mr Petro, the country's first leftist leader. His mother, who was a journalist, was kidnapped and killed in 1991 during one of the most violent periods in Colombia's history. His party described it as an "unacceptable act of violence", while US secretary of state Marco Rubio condemned it in the "strongest possible terms". Writing on X, Mr Rubio also urged Colombia's current president to "dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials". Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, who is not related to Mr Uribe Turbay, said the gunman had "attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, son, brother, and a great colleague". He cancelled a planned trip to France due to the "seriousness of the events", his office said in a statement. Messages of support poured in from elsewhere in Latin America, with Chilean President Gabriel Boric saying: "There is no room or justification for violence in a democracy," and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa adding: "We condemn all forms of violence and intolerance."
Sky News
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Daily Mail
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