Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe, 39, was moved to emergency surgery for a brain bleed after being shot in the head during a campaign rally in Bogota on 7 June. Hospitalised since the incident, Uribe is a right-wing opposition leader and a potential candidate for the country’s upcoming presidential elections.
“Patient Miguel Uribe Turbay required transfer to surgery a few minutes ago for an urgent neurological procedure, because of clinical evidence and imaging showing an acute inter-cerebral bleed,” the hospital said in a statement.
Reminiscent Of Haunting Past
The hospital earlier on Monday announced Uribe had undergone a surgical procedure that was “complementary” to his original operation after the shooting, and that he was stable but in critical condition.
The shooting, which was caught on video, recalled a streak of candidate assassinations in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when fighting between armed guerrillas, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and state security forces touched the lives of many Colombians.
Marches, Vigil For Uribe’s Health
Marches were held on Sunday around the country to call for peace, and several vigils for Uribe’s health have taken place. Three suspects, including a 15-year-old alleged to be the shooter, are in custody. In a video of the, independently verified by Reuters, he can be heard shouting that he had been hired by a local drug dealer.
An adult man and woman are also being held. The man, Carlos Eduardo Mora, has been charged for alleged involvement in planning the attack, providing the gun and being in the vehicle where the shooter changed his clothes after the attack, according to the attorney general’s office.
Though the government had floated a connection between them and the attack, the main dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group on Friday denied responsibility for the attack on Uribe, though it did accept responsibility for a series of unrelated bomb attacks.
Onset Of Campaign Season
Campaigning is just beginning for potential candidates who want to succeed leftist President Gustavo Petro – who vowed to advance peace efforts through negotiations and surrender deals, but who has notched little success on the issue – in the 2026 presidential vote.
Uribe is a senator for the right-wing Democratic Center party founded by former President Alvaro Uribe and one of several potential candidates from the group vying for support. The two men are not related.
Senator Uribe comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather Julio Cesar Turbay was president from 1978 to 1982 and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 in a botched rescue attempt after being kidnapped by an armed group led by drug lord Pablo Escobar.
(With inputs from Reuters)
