BOGOTA, June 8 (Reuters) – Presidential candidate Colombian Sen. Miguel Uribe survived his first surgery for his injuries after being shot and killed in Bogota on Saturday.
Uribe, 39, is a member of the opposition Right-wing Democrat Center Party, who was shot in the head during a campaign event in a park in the Fontibon district.
A boy under the age of 15 was arrested after the shooting, the Attorney General’s office said in a statement Saturday, adding that he was carrying a 9-mm Glock-shaped pistol.
The government said it is investigating whether there are other potential perpetrators. Left-wing President Gustavo Peter urged an investigation into who ordered the attack in his remarks late on Saturday.
The campaign only began with the 2026 presidential election, and Uribe, a well-known politician, has never had a well-known platform.
It was unclear why he was targeted in the attack. He has spoken about the need to improve security and his personal suffering from the country’s conflicts, but many other candidates, including other candidates in his party, said that measures need to be taken to tackle crime.
Uribe’s grandfather was president from 1978 to 1982, but his mother, journalist Diana Turbey, was lured in 1990 by an armed group under the direction of late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
“Miguel came out of the surgery, he made it. Every hour is a critical time. He fought his first fight, and it worked,” his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, told local media on Sunday. “This will take some time.”
The couple is the parents of young sons.
In a statement, Santa Fe Foundation Hospital, where Uribe was treated, said there was surgery on his head and left thigh, and remained in intensive care as doctors attempted to stabilize his condition.
In a statement, Uribe’s party said that an armed subject shot him from behind. Social media videos show men identified as Uribe who have a tendency to post-shoot. He appeared to be bleeding from his head.
Bogota mayor Carlos Garan said the father of the presidential candidate was assassinated in 1989 and spoke to journalists outside the hospital overnight, calling for an increase in protection for all candidates in Bogota and Uribe’s family.
Under investigation
The Colombian government is offering approximately $730,000 in compensation for information about the incident.
“For now, it’s just a hypothesis,” Peter said, adding that security protocol failures will also be considered. Uribe was provided with bodyguard protection to senators and other officials.
In X’s message, Peter sympathizes with Uribe’s family, saying, “I don’t know how to relieve your pain. It’s the pain of my lost mother and my hometown.”
People gathered outside the hospital in northern Bogota to pray with candlelights raised and others raised the Colombian flag. A support march was planned for Sunday.
Several countries, including Brazil, Italy, Spain, Uruguay and Paraguay on Sunday, condemned the attacks, as well as the Venezuelan government and opposition.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States “condemns Uribe’s attempt to assassinate Uribe under the strongest possible conditions,” blaming Peter’s “inflammatory rhetoric” on violence.
Peter was an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s deportation policy earlier this year, but has been less voiced since Trump threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions on the Andean country.
Colombia has been involved in government conflicts with left-wing rebels, leading to left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitary groups for decades.
(Reporting by Julia Symmes Cobb and Lucinda Elliott; Additional reporting by Carlos Vargas, Luisa Gonzalez, Graham Keeley, Vivian Sequera, and Nelson Bocanegra; Written by Lucinda Elliott and Julia Symmes Cobb; Christian Plums, Michael Ply, David Holmes
