Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe was shot and seriously wounded during a campaign event in Bogotá. A member of the opposition, Uribe was reportedly struck in the back by unidentified armed assailants while addressing supporters in the capital.

According to authorities, one suspect has been arrested in connection with the attack. A minor believed to be involved in the shooting was also apprehended at the scene, and a firearm was recovered.

Uribe was accompanied at the time by Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán, who was also injured and transported to a nearby medical center along with the senator. “The entire hospital network was placed on alert,” said local officials, noting the critical condition of the victims.

In response to the shooting, Colombian government authorities issued a strongly worded statement condemning the act of political violence. “The government categorically and forcefully rejects this attack,” the statement read, urging law enforcement to conduct a thorough and swift investigation.

Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed that the country’s military, police, and intelligence agencies have been mobilized to uncover the full details behind the attack. “I have ordered all security and intelligence capabilities to be deployed urgently to clarify the facts,” he stated.

Who is Miguel Uribe?

A ring-wing senator and member of Democratic Centre Party, Miguel Uribe was 39. As per a Reuters report, Miguel’s mother Diana Turbay, a journalist, was kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s cartel. Caught in the cross-fires of a rescue operation, she was killed in 1991. With links to the country’s Liberal Party, his father was a businessman and union leader.

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CBS news reported that an assassination attempt of a politically significant personality has not been seen in Colombia since the era of the Escobar in early 1990s.

US Reacts

US Secretary Marco Rubio expressed his stand on the Miguel shooting. Condemning the act of violence, he took to social media and shared that, “this is a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric”. He added how Colombia, “can’t afford to go back to dark days of political violence.”

Political reactions

“Violence can never be the way… I sincerely hope that (Uribe) is well and out of danger,” Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia wrote on social media.

So far, no official report has been released on the senator’s condition. A suspected shooter has been captured, Bogotá Mayor Carlos Galán said on the social platform X.

“Respect life, that’s the red line,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a message posted on his X account. Carlos Triana said that at the time of the attack Uribe Turbay was accompanied by Councilman Andrés Barrios and 20 other people.

Former president Uribe said “they attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague.” Leftist President Gustavo Petro sympathized with the senator’s family in a message on X, saying, “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland.”