Forensic specialists work on the crime scene the place Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot and wounded within the Modelia neighborhood in Bogota on June 7, 2025.
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP
disguise caption
toggle caption
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP
BOGOTA, Colombia —Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was shot within the head at a Bogotá marketing campaign occasion Saturday, in an assault that despatched shockwaves by the nation.
The politician’s situation stays unclear after being shot by a 15-year-old sicario, or paid hitman, whereas delivering a speech to a small group of supporters in a park within the west of the capital.
Movies posted on social media present the politician bleeding beside a automotive earlier than being rushed to a close-by hospital. His situation stays severe. Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán advised reporters Sunday that Uribe had undergone surgical procedure and was now in “the critical hours” of restoration.
The incident is the primary high-profile assassination try on a politician in many years, elevating fears of a return to a bloody period of political violence in Colombia forward of contentious elections scheduled for Might 2026.
“At this moment, Miguel is fighting for his life. We ask God to guide the hands of the doctors treating him,” wrote Uribe’s spouse, Maria Claudia Tarazona, on her husband’s X account on Saturday night time.
Uribe is a far-right politician thought-about to be controversial former president Álvaro Uribe’s protege. He’s a staunch critic of incumbent President Gustavo Petro and has campaigned promising better safety in Colombia.
Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay seems on after Senate vote in Bogota on Might 14, 2025. A Colombian right-wing opposition senator and candidate for subsequent yr’s presidential election, Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was shot and wounded in Bogota on June 7, 2025.
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP
disguise caption
toggle caption
RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP
It’s unclear who ordered the assault, which occurred at round 5pm within the Fontibón neighborhood of Bogotá, however the perpetrators “almost certainly hired hitmen,” in line with Elizabeth Dickinson, Senior Colombia Analyst at Disaster Group Worldwide.
Police apprehended the underage shooter shortly after he fled the scene.
“Whoever ordered this assassination… very clearly had the intention of throwing gas onto a fire, trying to be incendiary in an electoral context that is already deeply polarized,” Dickinson advised NPR.
The assault comes amid deepening political polarization between Petro – a leftist former-guerrilla – and an emboldened right-wing opposition, who blame the president for the nation’s deteriorating safety scenario.
“Evidently this [attack] shows an erosion of Colombia’s security and political climate in the short term,” Sergio Guzmán, Director at Colombia Threat Evaluation, a safety assume tank, advised NPR.
Vicky Dávila, the conservative frontrunner within the upcoming presidential election, mentioned Petro was “the only one responsible” for the assassination try in an X put up on Saturday.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally pointed a finger at Petro, who he has beforehand clashed with and known as “Gustavo Chavez”.
“This is a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government,” wrote Rubio in an X put up final night time.
However Petro joined voices throughout the political spectrum condemning the capturing.
“Colombia and its eternal violence… They kill the son and the mother. Respect life, that is the red line,” mentioned the president on X.
His remark referred to Uribe’s mom, journalist Diana Turbay, who was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel and killed throughout a botched rescue operation in 1991.
Saturday’s assault has drawn comparisons to this era of political violence, with many observers evaluating it to presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán’s assassination in 1989 throughout peak cartel violence.
“Essentially what we have tonight is a return to a very dark era of politics in Colombia when violence was used as a political tool at the highest level of elections,” mentioned Dickinson.
A number of presidential hopefuls have additionally known as for better safety for candidates forward of the upcoming elections.
“Today I ask the international community to make an urgent and effective plan to take care of Colombia’s presidential candidates and our families,” wrote Vicky Dávila, the conservative frontrunner, in a put up on X within the hours after the assault.
The Ministry of Protection supplied a COP $3 billion (roughly USD $728,000) reward for data referring to the assassination try.
