On Saturday, 7 June 2025, Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe was shot in the head at a campaign event in the country’s capital, Bogotá. According to Reuters, he received immediate medical attention and survived the initial operation for his injuries but remains in intensive care, as announced by his wife and medical team. Senator Uribe is a member of the opposition right-wing Centro Democrático (“Democratic Center”) party and a potential presidential contender.
According to the B.B.C., Uribe was airlifted to the Santa Fe Foundation Hospital, where supporters gathered to hold a candlelight vigil and participate in prayers. In an interview with local media outlets, Uribe’s wife announced the status of the senator’s health and highlighted the significance of time in the healing process: “Miguel came out of surgery, he made it. Every hour is a critical hour. He fought his first battle and it went well. This will take time.”
The primary suspect, a young boy just under 15 years old, was arrested after the shooting. In a statement released by the Colombian attorney general’s office on Saturday, it was revealed that the boy was carrying a nine-millimeter pistol that had been illegally purchased in Arizona in 2020, according to the Guardian. Additionally, the Colombian government is offering a $730,000 reward for any information regarding the case. Despite Uribe being an outspoken critic of President Gustavo Petro, the current government condemned the attack, stating it was an “act of violence not only against his person, but also against democracy.” Petro urged for an investigation to determine who had ordered the attack on the senator. “For now there is nothing more than hypothesis,” he said, noting how failures in security protocols will be examined. According to the Guardian, Petro posted to social media, “I must now report that the protection scheme for Senator Uribe was reduced, strangely, on the day of the attack, from seven to three people.”
In terms of global reactions to this assassination attempt, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a statement that the U.S. “condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination” of Uribe, blaming Petro’s “inflammatory rhetoric” for the violence. This comment likely emerged from a conflict ignited by Petro’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s deportation policies earlier this year. However, according to Reuters, Petro has pulled back on voicing his protestation after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Colombia. In general, while a U.S. response of condemnation is valuable, Rubio’s choice to take this opportunity to assign blame will only inflame the unrest and disorder resulting from the recent attack.
The upcoming election season is a possible factor in heightened political tensions as national campaigning for the 2026 election has just begun. However, according to Reuters, Uribe has yet to develop a comprehensive campaign platform. It is also possible that Uribe’s well-known family connections in politics could have influenced this attempt, notably his grandfather, Julio César Turbay Ayala, who served as the country’s president from 1978 to 1982, and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, who was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late Pablo Escobar and later killed in a failed rescue attempt. However, it is ultimately unclear why Uribe was specifically targeted in this assassination attempt.
Historically, it is common during the lead-up to elections for heightened political tensions to result in combative rhetoric, organized protest, and even acts of violence. Regardless, the Colombian government must take action not only to condemn this assassination attempt but to also establish a precedent of non-violence so as to prevent similar events in the future. As this story develops and Senator Uribe tries to physically and emotionally recover from the shooting, many Colombian citizens will unfortunately enter the upcoming election season with concern for the fates of other representatives and uncertainty for their country’s political environment.
