Colombia presidential candidate shot twice in the head by 15-year-old

The headlines are stark, but the reality hits harder. On Saturday, conmotion spread across the nation when in Bogotá, 39-year-old Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a rising star in Colombia’s conservative Democratic Centre party and a serious contender for the 2026 presidency, was shot three times, twice in the head.

Uribe Turbay was attacked while addressing supporters in a park. Police arrested a 15-year-old suspect at the scene carrying a 9mm Glock-type firearm, the Colombian attorney general’s office said.

As Uribe fought for his life, leftist President Gustavo Petro said the State must protect the integrity of the 15-year-old boy, who in several videos can be heard saying he will surrender the phone numbers of those who hired him to assassinate the presidential candidate. “The State’s first responsibility is to protect the life of the minor, because he is a child. As terrible as it may seem, children are protected in Colombia,” Petro said, which did not sit well with the majority of replies his statement had on X. 

Anti-Petro protest at Uribe’s clinic

Dozens of people were shouting outside the hospital where Uribe was undergoing surgery. That, too, did not resonate with most on X, who said those people do not care about the Uribe issue at all. One person, @mamerto0, said, “You must be an SOB to go shout outside a clinic as if it were a stadium while Miguel Uribe Turbay fights for his life.”

Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez deplored the “vile attack” and offered a 3bn peso ($730,000; £540,000) reward for information about who may have been behind it.

Walking into a public park to address supporters, Uribe walked straight into a nightmare. He fell wounded just meters from the stage, blood staining the pavement as supporters fled. For Colombia, the attack is a terrifying echo of its past. Memories of campaign violence linger, from the 1989 assassination of Luis Carlos Galán at a political rally to unnamed candidates killed on airport runways. Too many times, hope has bled on Colombian soil. The democratic ambition embodied by Uribe, who aspires to replace left-wing incumbent Gustavo Petro, has always carried risk in a country struggling to shrug off armed conflict.

Pablo Escobar kidnapped his mother

The immediate fallout crosses political lines. Opposition senators called for unity and better protection measures, while Petro and Uribe supporters condemned any justification of violence.

The defence minister has ordered reviews of campaign security protocols for all candidates. International voices, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, voiced alarm. Rubio pointed a finger at inflammatory rhetoric but stopped short of naming names.

Amid political theatre and emotional debates, Uribe’s personal story casts a long shadow. He is no stranger to tragedy: his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by Pablo Escobar cartel associates and died during a failed rescue. 

Now, two generations later, violence has found him again. It raises urgent questions. Why would a teenager pull a trigger in broad daylight? Who financed or aided this attack? And how safe can campaigning be in today’s Colombia?

Trying to wash his hands?

Petro later urged Colombians to wish Uribe well, on what he described as a “day of pain” in a video address to the nation. There was a “political difference” between Uribe and the government, but it was “only political”, he said.

“What matters most today is that all Colombians focus with the energy of our hearts, with our will to live… on ensuring that Dr Miguel Uribe stays alive,” the president added.

This is Colombia’s latest warning. The bullets that nearly killed Uribe carry a message: political space remains contested. How the nation responds—through law enforcement, security reforms and political tone—will say everything about whether democracy here can survive another shock.