Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe is hospitalized in serious condition after being shot at a campaign event in Bogota on Saturday.
Medics reported on Saturday that the 39-year-old right-wing opposition senator suffered two gunshot wounds to the head and one to his knee.
The defense minister, Pedro Sánchez, said a suspect had been arrested in the shooting and authorities were investigating whether others were involved. Sánchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated.
Uribe’s party, the Centro Democratico conservative party, issued a statement condemning the act of violence.
According to the party’s statement, the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighborhood in the capital on Saturday when “armed subjects shot him in the back.”
The party described the attack as serious but did not disclose further details on Uribe’s condition.
Colombia’s presidency issued a statement saying the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation.
“Violence can never be the way… I sincerely hope that (Uribe) is well and out of danger,” Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia wrote on social media.
The politician’s wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, posted a message on his X account asking for prayers for his recovery.
“Miguel is fighting for his life right now. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him,” she wrote.
Uribe comes from a prominent Colombian political family. He is the son of Diana Turbay and the grandson of Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala.
Diana was a Colombian journalist who was kidnapped by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation.
Her story was notably portrayed in a nonfiction book by Gabriel García Márquez.
Ayala was a Colombian lawyer and politician who served as the 25th President of Colombia from 1978 to 1982.
He was also a Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United States.
The president, Gustavo Petro, sympathized with the senator’s family, posting online: “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland.”
