Colombian presidential candidate in critical condition after assassination attempt

Colombian presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was in critical condition on Monday morning, after he was reportedly shot in the head at a Saturday rally near the capital city of Bogotá. The hospital treating him said Uribe Turbay had shown little response to treatments, including neurosurgery. The hospital also performed procedures on his wounded left thigh.

The attack on Uribe Turbay occurred on Saturday afternoon in the Modelia neighborhood of the town of Fontibón, in western Bogotá, according to Colombia’s Office of the Attorney General. Law enforcement apprehended a 15-year-old suspect with a 9mm pistol soon after the attack, the office said. While Uribe Turbay spoke to supporters, the teenager allegedly shot him at point-blank range with a firearm traced to the U.S. state of Arizona, according to local news. Uribe Turbay’s lawyer on Monday said he was filing a criminal complaint against the head of Colombia’s National Protection Unit for ignoring 23 requests to increase the candidate’s security detail, according to local news.

Who is Uribe Turbay? Uribe Turbay is a prominent member of the conservative Centro Democrático party and an outspoken critic of Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s leftist administration. He became a senator in 2022 and announced his presidential run in October 2024, according to the BBC. His grandfather, Julio Cesar Turbay, was president from 1978 to 1982, Reuters reported.

How did officials respond to the attack? More than 250 officials including national police, investigators, and forensic experts were investigating the crime and possible motives, the Colombian attorney general’s office said on Monday. The team had collected over 1,000 videos as evidence and had interviewed two relatives of the teenage suspect, the office said. President Petro on Monday chided political opponents for using the attack to criticize his government. Petro also said Uribe Turbay’s security detail was strangely reduced from seven to three officers on the day of the attack. He had ordered the Colombia Security Council to investigate the reason, he said. Petro also ordered increased security for opposition politicians and their children, he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the attack a threat to democracy in a Saturday statement. The attack was the result of violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of Petro’s government, Rubio said.