Colombia is mourning the death of conservative presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, who succumbed on Monday to injuries sustained during a shooting at a June 7 campaign rally in Bogotá. Uribe, 39, a senator and grandson of former president Julio Cesar Turbay (1978–1982), had been a frontrunner for the 2026 presidential election.
The attack left Uribe with gunshot wounds to the head and leg. While his recovery initially showed signs of progress, his medical team announced over the weekend that he had suffered a new brain hemorrhage. “Rest in peace, love of my life,” his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for a life full of love.”
Authorities have arrested six people in connection with the shooting, including the alleged gunman a 15-year-old boy captured at the scene by Uribe’s bodyguards. A nationwide manhunt led to the capture of the suspected mastermind, Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez, alias “El Costeño.” Investigators have linked the plot to a dissident faction of the disbanded FARC guerrilla group.
The assassination has revived painful memories of Colombia’s violent political past, when four presidential candidates were murdered during the turbulent 1980s and 1990s under the shadow of Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel. Uribe’s own mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in a 1991 police rescue operation after being kidnapped by Escobar’s men.
Vice President Francia Márquez condemned the killing, stating, “Violence cannot continue to mark our destiny. Democracy is not built with bullets or blood, it is built with respect, with dialogue.”
Uribe began his political career at 26, becoming Bogotá City Council’s youngest-ever chairperson before serving as a key aide to the city’s mayor. He unsuccessfully ran for Bogotá mayor in 2019 but went on to win a Senate seat in 2022 with the highest vote tally in the nation. He served under the conservative Democratic Center party, founded by former president Álvaro Uribe (no relation).
Former president Álvaro Uribe lamented, “They killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light that illuminates Colombia’s rightful path.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also expressed condolences, urging justice for those responsible.
Uribe is survived by his wife, their young son, and her three teenage daughters, whom he had embraced as his own. His death leaves Colombia grappling with renewed fears over political violence ahead of the 2026 elections.
