Miguel Uribe Turbay, a Colombian senator with conservative views and ambitions for the presidency, succumbed on Monday to injuries sustained more than two months earlier from gunfire at a rally supporting his campaign in Bogota's western section. The confirmation of the 39-year-old's passing came early Monday from his wife, María Claudia Tarazona.
On June 7, Miguel Uribe Turbay suffered grave harm at a campaign assembly in Colombia's capital, with shots striking his head and leg. He received prompt surgical treatment and lingered in intensive care at the hospital right up to his death.
"You'll always be the love of my life," his wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, said on Instagram early on Monday. "Thank you for a life filled with love, thank you for being a father to the girls, the best dad to Alejandro."
A young suspect faced arrest immediately at the site, with authorities later holding several more suspects. Police last month detained the suspected key planner of the aggression – Elder José Arteaga Hernández – who goes by "Chipi" or "Costeño."
The episode has ignited new apprehensions over violence targeting politicians in the country. The underlying cause of the shooting remains under scrutiny by investigators. In October, Miguel Uribe Turbay revealed his aim to compete in Colombia's 2026 presidential contest. From his position in the Senate, he had risen as one of the sharpest detractors of President Gustavo Petro.
⚠️🇨🇴 Momento en el que el senador y candidato presidencial Miguel Uribe Turbay recibió un disparo en la cabeza https://t.co/nSsomZE9Um pic.twitter.com/iwWXqOA6Rj
— Actualidad Viral (@ActualidaViral) June 8, 2025
In a nation marked by a troubling history of drug syndicates and armed rebels assassinating and seizing political leaders, the strike has drawn broad rebuke. Miguel Uribe Turbay was the child of a journalist taken captive and slain in 1991 amid one of the nation's most turbulent times.
Soon after the shooting occurred, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the US "condemns in the strongest possible terms the attempted assassination" and labeled the strike "a direct threat to democracy." CBS News reports he ascribed it to "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government."
