BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian senator and presidential hopeful whose shooting at a political rally in June recalled some of the darkest chapters of drug-fueled violence in the country died Monday.
The family of Miguel Uribe Turbay reported that the politician died in a hospital in the capital, Bogotá, more than two months after the attack. Uribe, 39, was shot three times , twice in the head, while giving a campaign speech in a park and remained in intensive care in serious condition, with periods of slight improvement.
“Rest in peace, love of my life. I will take care of our children,” his wife, María Claudia Tarazona, wrote in a social media post confirming his passing. “I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you.”.
A teenage suspect was arrested at the scene of the June 7 attack in a working-class neighborhood of Bogotá, and authorities have since detained several more people. However, it is still not known for certain who ordered the murder or why.
The shooting, which was captured in multiple videos, alarmed Colombians who had not seen this type of political violence against presidential candidates since Medellín drug lord Pablo Escobar declared war on the state in the 1990s.
Uribe's own mother, the well-known journalist Diana Turbay, was among the victims of that period when she died during a police rescue after being kidnapped by a group of drug traffickers led by Escobar who sought to block her extradition to the United States.
“If my mother was willing to give her life for a cause, how could I not do the same in life and in politics?” said Uribe, who was only 5 years old when his mother was murdered, in an interview last year with a Colombian media outlet.
Uribe, a lawyer with a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University, entered politics as a Bogotá city councilman at the age of 26. In 2022, he was the top vote-getter for the conservative Democratic Center party, led by former president Álvaro Uribe.
“Evil destroys everything,” the former president, who is not related to the senator, said on social media. “They have killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light to illuminate Colombia’s path.”.
Authorities have put forward several hypotheses about what led to the attack, while allies of the candidate have complained that the government ignored repeated requests to reinforce his state-provided security team.
Immediately after the attack, tens of thousands of people took to the streets dressed in white and waving the Colombian flag to reject the violence.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was among the politicians who mourned the senator's death.
"The United States stands in solidarity with his family and the Colombian people, both in mourning and in demanding justice for those responsible," X posted.
