Colombia is reeling after a shocking assassination attempt on prominent presidential candidate and senator Miguel Uribe, who remains in critical condition following a brazen shooting at a campaign rally in Bogotá.
The 39-year-old right-wing lawmaker was shot twice in the head, allegedly by a teenage gunman, during a public event on Saturday. While emergency surgery was successful in stabilizing his immediate injuries, doctors at the Santa Fe Clinic cautioned that Uribe remains in a “grave” state, with his prognosis still uncertain.
“He is fighting for his life,” medical officials stated, emphasizing the severity of his condition.
The attack has sent shockwaves through Colombia, a country that has spent decades trying to heal from its violent political past and narco-fueled unrest. The shooting shattered a fragile sense of political normalcy and reignited fears about the security of democratic processes in the country.
On Sunday, hundreds of Colombians poured into the streets of Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali in candlelit vigils and impromptu demonstrations. Many offered prayers for Uribe’s recovery while others expressed outrage at what they see as a resurgence of political violence.
For a generation that had begun to believe Colombia had moved past its blood-stained political history, the attack on Uribe is a grim reminder that the country’s hard-won peace remains perilously fragile.
“Our hearts are broken, Colombia hurts,” Carolina Gomez, a 41-year-old businesswoman, told AFP as she lit candles and prayed outside the hospital where Uribe was being treated.
The crowd joined together in cries of “strength to you Miguel” and “the people are with you.”
Uribe’s wife Maria Claudia Tarazona thanked Colombians for their support and asked that they collectively pray for his survival.
“He is fighting hard for his life,” she said. The senator received two gunshot wounds to the head and was also shot once in the leg.
Although a security guard at the scene captured the alleged gunman, the motive for the shooting is still not publicly known.
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Senator Miguel Uribe, now clinging to life in a Bogotá hospital, has long been a vocal and unflinching critic of Colombia’s leftist government, the persistent grip of guerrilla factions, and the enduring power of drug cartels that still cast a long shadow over the country.
His shooting, in what appears to be a targeted assassination attempt, has not only unsettled the political landscape but struck a deep, emotional chord across the nation—largely because of who Uribe is and what his family represents in Colombia’s turbulent modern history.
The government has pledged a full-force response, with President Gustavo Petro vowing to deploy the nation’s police, intelligence agencies, and military resources to uncover the plot’s origins and identify who may have orchestrated the attack. Although authorities report no prior threats specifically targeting Uribe, he, like other high-profile figures, had long been under armed protection.
Uribe’s personal story is woven tightly into Colombia’s national trauma. He is the grandson of former President Julio César Turbay, who governed from 1978 to 1982 during a time of intensifying guerrilla warfare and the explosive rise of the Medellín and Cali drug cartels.
But perhaps even more symbolically, he is the son of Diana Turbay, a celebrated journalist and editor kidnapped and ultimately killed during a failed rescue operation while being held by Pablo Escobar’s forces in the early 1990s. Her tragic death remains one of the most painful public memories from Colombia’s narco-era.
In many ways, Miguel Uribe has come to personify both the legacy and the lingering wounds of Colombia’s long struggle with violence and impunity. His attack is not just political—it’s painfully personal for a country still battling its past.