Colombian presidential hopeful and conservative senator Miguel Uribe Turbay has died, two months after being shot in the head during a campaign rally. He was 39.
Uribe passed away in a Bogotá hospital on Monday, August 11, his wife María Claudia Tarazona confirmed in an emotional social media post.
“Rest in peace, love of my life. I will take care of our children,” she wrote. “I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you.”
The attack occurred on June 7, when Uribe was delivering a campaign speech in a park. He was struck three times—twice in the head—and had remained in intensive care with only brief signs of improvement.
A 15-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene, and authorities later detained several others. Last month, officials identified the alleged mastermind as Elder José Arteaga Hernández, known as “Chipi” or “Costeño.”
Uribe, a fierce critic of leftist President Gustavo Petro, had announced his intention to run for president in 2026. The brazen daylight shooting, captured on multiple videos, shocked Colombia, which has not seen such violence against presidential candidates since the 1990s, when drug lord Pablo Escobar waged war on the state.
Tragically, political violence had already touched Uribe’s family: his mother, prominent journalist Diana Turbay, was killed during a failed police rescue after being kidnapped by traffickers linked to Escobar.
A Harvard-educated lawyer, Uribe began his political career as a Bogotá councilman at 26. In 2022, he won the most votes in the conservative Democratic Center party led by former President Álvaro Uribe (no relation).
“Evil destroys everything,” the ex-president said in tribute. “They have killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light that illuminates Colombia’s path.”
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