Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said.
His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.”
The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related.
Photo: AFP
Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation hospital said the senator was admitted in a critical condition and underwent a “neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedure.”
“Miguel is fighting for his life,” his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, wrote on the senator’s X account, urging Colombians to pray for him.
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office, which is investigating the shooting, said the senator received two gunshot wounds in the attack, which wounded two others, adding that 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.
“Respect life, that’s the red line,” Colombia President Gustavo Petro wrote on social media.
Shortly after making the post, Petro canceled a planned trip to France “due to the seriousness of the events,” according to a presidential statement.
Late Saturday night, 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.
Uribe Turbay is the son of a journalist who was kidnapped and killed in 1991 during one of the country’s most violent periods.
Colombia is to hold a presidential election on May 31 next year, marking the end of Petro’s term. The senator announced his presidential bid in March.
Colombian police chief General Carlos Triana said that at the time of the attack Uribe Turbay was accompanied by Councilman Andres Barrios and 20 other people. A minor who allegedly participated in the attack was apprehended at the scene and was being treated for a leg injury, he said.
“I have ordered the Colombian military and police forces and intelligence agencies to deploy all their capabilities to urgently clarify the facts,” Colombian Minister of National Defense Pedro Sanchez said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media that the “United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination of Senator Miguel Uribe.”
He urged Petro “to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials.”
“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.
Reactions poured in from around Latin America, with Chilean President Gabriel Boric saying “there is no room or justification for violence in a democracy,” and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa saying “we condemn all forms of violence and intolerance.” Both presidents offered solidarity to the senator’s family.
In Colombia, former president Alvaro Uribe said that “they attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague.”
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