Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay is “combating for his life” after being shot during a campaign rally within the capital, Bogota.
The assault occurred on Saturday in a park because the nation gears up for subsequent yr’s presidential election. Uribe, a 39-year-old senator, was shot twice – within the head and the chest, based on Colombia’s Lawyer Basic’s Workplace.
The suspect is a 15-year-old who’s in custody.
Here’s what to know concerning the incident and Uribe’s present standing:
What occurred on the rally?
Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, who’s looking for to run within the 2026 presidential election, was shot from behind at a marketing campaign rally about 5pm [22:00 GMT] at El Golfito Park in Bogota’s Fontibon district.
A video verified by The New York Occasions reveals Uribe being shot in the midst of his speech. Photographs from the scene of the taking pictures confirmed Uribe slumped in opposition to the hood of a white automotive, smeared with blood, as a bunch of males tried to carry him and cease the bleeding.
In accordance with native media experiences, he was first stabilised at a close-by clinic earlier than being airlifted to the Santa Fe Basis hospital. The hospital confirmed he arrived about 8:30pm on Saturday [01:30 GMT Sunday].
A safety guard managed to detain the suspected attacker, a minor who’s believed to be 15 years previous. Nationwide Police Director Carlos Fernando Triana mentioned the suspect was injured and was receiving remedy.
Two others – a person and a girl – have been additionally wounded. However no particulars have been obtainable relating to their identities.
What’s Uribe’s well being standing now?
He’s steady however nonetheless in essential situation after rising on Sunday from a “neurosurgical” and “peripheral vascular process”, based on the hospital.
He “overcame the primary surgical process”, Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan instructed the media, including that he had entered “the essential hours” of restoration.
“He fought the primary battle and fought it properly. He’s combating for his life,” Uribe’s spouse was heard saying in an audio recording shared with the media.
Who’s Miguel Uribe Turbay?
Uribe was elected as senator in 2022 underneath the conservative Democratic Centre occasion, based by former President Alvaro Uribe, to whom he’s not associated.
The previous president described the taking pictures as an assault in opposition to “a hope for the nation”.
Uribe’s maternal grandfather, Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, served as president from 1978 to 1982. He’s additionally the son of journalist Diana Turbay, who was kidnapped in 1990 by Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel. She died in a botched rescue operation by Colombian forces just a few months later.
Uribe has held a number of public workplaces, together with Bogota Metropolis Council member (2012–2015) and authorities secretary of Bogota (2016–2018). He additionally ran for the capital’s mayor in 2019 however misplaced that election.
Who attacked Uribe?
The Lawyer Basic’s Workplace confirmed a 15-year-old boy was arrested on the scene with a “9mm Glock-type firearm”. Witnesses had additionally described seeing a younger assailant open hearth from behind Uribe earlier than being subdued by bodyguards and civilians.
The suspect stays in custody with investigations underneath option to decide if there have been any accomplices.
What was the motive behind the taking pictures?
No motive has been established, and authorities mentioned there was no particular menace made in opposition to the politician earlier than the incident.
However the nation is dwelling to a number of armed teams and highly effective cartels, and has an extended historical past of political violence.
Within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, not less than 5 presidential candidates have been assassinated by drug cartels, paramilitaries or political opponents.
One such case was the assassination of Luis Carlos Galan in 1989. Galan was a number one presidential candidate identified for his robust anticorruption stance and opposition to drug trafficking. He was broadly anticipated to win the presidency the next yr.
A 2016 settlement aimed to deliver long-lasting peace to the nation by disarming rebels from the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
When is the subsequent presidential election in Colombia?
Colombia’s subsequent presidential election is scheduled for Might, and present leftist President Gustavo Petro is ineligible to run as a result of time period limits. A run-off might be held if wanted.
Uribe, who’s a right-wing critic of Petro, introduced his intention to run for president in March.
What are the reactions?
The assault drew robust reactions from each native and worldwide leaders.
Petro pledged an investigation.
“What issues most right now is that every one Colombians focus with the power of our hearts, with our will to reside … on guaranteeing that Dr Miguel Uribe stays alive.”
In an earlier assertion, Petro condemned the violence as “an assault not solely in opposition to his particular person, but in addition in opposition to democracy, freedom of thought, and the respectable train of politics in Colombia”.
“Respect life, that’s the purple line. … My solidarity [is] with the Uribe household and the Turbay household. I don’t know learn how to ease their ache,” he posted on X.
Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez mobilised army and intelligence sources and introduced a reward of three billion Colombian pesos ($730,000) for details about the taking pictures.
United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement saying the US condemns the assault “within the strongest attainable phrases” and considers it a “direct menace to democracy”. He additionally referred to as on Petro to “dial again the inflammatory rhetoric” and shield officers.
Leaders throughout Latin America additionally condemned the assault.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric mentioned, “There isn’t any room or justification for violence in a democracy,” whereas Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa denounced “all types of violence and intolerance”. Each expressed solidarity with Uribe’s household.
