The 39 -year -old man “fights for his life” after being killed during a campaign rally for his presidential candidacy, says his wife.
Colombian senator Miguel Uibe Turbay, a potential candidate in the presidential election next year, suffered a successful initial surgery After being killed and injured in the capital, Bogota, according to his mayor.
The “first surgical intervention”, 39, entered the “critical hours” of recovery, said Mayor Carlos Fernando Galan on Sunday.
The Santa Fe Foundation Hospital, where he is treated, said in a Sunday statement that he had procedures on the head and his left thigh but had remained in intensive care while the doctors were trying to stabilize it.
Uibe was killed on Saturday during a campaign event as part of his presidency race in 2026. After being transported by plane to the hospital, his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, said on X that he “fought for his life”.
He is a member of the Party of the Conservative Democratic Center of the opposition, founded by former president Alvaro Uibe. The two men are not linked.
“Unacceptable” violence
The party published a statement calling for the shooting “an act of unacceptable violence”.
He said the senator appeared during a campaign event in a public park in the Fonbon district in Bogota when “armed subjects” pulled him from behind.
Videos on social networks have shown that a man identified as Uibe was expected after filming. He seemed to bleed with his head.
The Office of the Attorney General, who investigates the shooting, said that the senator had received two shot injuries in the attack, which had injured two others. The office statement said that a 15 -year -old boy was arrested on the scene with a firearm.
The government said it offered $ 730,000 as a reward for information in the case.
The presidency of Colombia published a statement saying that the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack and called for an in -depth investigation.
Left president Gustavo Petro sympathized with the Senator’s family in a message on X, saying: “Respect life, it’s the red line. … My solidarity (is) with the Uibe family and the Turbay family. I don’t know how to alleviate their pain. “
In a speech on Saturday evening, Petro said that the investigation would focus on research that had ordered the attack.
“For the moment, there is nothing more than hypotheses,” said Petro, adding that failures in security protocols would also be examined.
Global reactions
The United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement that the United States “condemns the assassination of” Uribe as high as possible, accusing Petro’s “inflammatory rhetoric” for violence.
The reactions also sank from Latin America. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said: “There is no room or justification for violence in a democracy.” Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said: “We condemn all forms of violence and intolerance.”
The two presidents expressed their solidarity with the senator’s family.
In Colombia, the former president Uibe said: “They attacked the country’s hope, a great husband, father, son, brother, great colleague.”
Uibe, who is not yet an official presidential candidate for his party, is of an eminent family in Colombia.
His father was a businessman and a union leader. Her mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late leader of the Pablo Escobar cartel. She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.
Colombia has been involved for decades in a conflict between the left rebels, the criminal groups have descended from the right and the government.