Latin Analysis: Presidential Candidate Fights for His Life after Assasination Attempt in Colombia
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Senator Miguel Uribe Torbay, the Centro Democratico party’s candidate for the 2026 presidential elections in Colombia, was shot three times during an address at a campaign event in Bogotá on June 7. Images of the moment when the senator was shot in the back of the head or slumped against the hood of a car covered in blood, dominated news channels and left the onlookers in shock at the violent scenes on that afternoon in a middle-class neighborhood in the country’s capital. After being stabilized in a nearby clinic, Uribe was airlifted to another hospital, where he was admitted to intensive care and rushed into surgery. Despite over a month having passed since the assassination attempt, the presidential hopeful is still thought to be in a critical condition. The attack on Uribe Torbay’s life, condemned by his party as a grave threat to “democracy and freedom in Colombia”, has had a significant impact on the political sphere in the country and left the public reeling. This instance of extreme violence in broad daylight has transported many Colombians back to the difficult years of the 1980s and 90s, which were marred by frequent attacks on political figures and assassination attempts.
At the center of this tragedy is Miguel Uribe Torbay, whose future is uncertain as he continues to fight for his life in hospital over a month after his assassination attempt. This presidential candidate has a long history of holding public office. He served on Bogotá City Council between 2012-15, before becoming government secretary of the capital the following year. He was in this post for two years and then tried his luck to become Mayor of Bogotá in 2019. Although he lost that election, he was elected as a Senator under the conservative Centro Democrático in 2022. Uribe then announced his presidential bid in October 2024.
Uribe comes from a family with political history; his grandfather Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala was president of Colombia between 1978 and 1982. This is also not the first time that his family has fallen victim to increasing violence in Colombia. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was one of the victims of attempts by cartels to pressure the government to overturn an extradition treaty with the United States at the time. To achieve this, ‘Los Extraditables’, headed up by Pablo Escobar, kidnapped and attacked well-known figures in Colombia, and Uribe’s mother was one of these people. She was held for five months by Escobar’s men, before losing her life in a failed rescue mission. Uribe launched his election campaign at the spot where his mother was killed, and less than a year later, finds himself as yet another victim of extreme violence.
The exact motivation behind this violence has yet to be discovered, despite a minor being arrested at the scene, thought to be the suspected attacker. Subsequently, more arrests have been made, including a man who is thought to have provided the shooter with a weapon, and a woman for supposedly providing “logistical support”. A recent breakthrough led to a fifth suspect being detained, Elder José Arteaga Hernández- also known as El Costeño –who is suspected to have been one of the ringleaders behind the events of June 7. According to the police, El Costeño “allegedly recruited and directed the minor who carried out the attack”.
However, although the trigger for this attack is unclear, many commentators have lay some of the blame at the door of the sitting president, Gustavo Petro. The government condemned the attack, with his defense minister offering a $730,000 reward for information about the events of June 7 to help bring the perpetrators to justice. However, despite these platitudes and expressions of condolences on behalf of President Petro following the attack on Miguel Uribe Torbay, many Colombians have “condemned the hostile rhetoric increasingly used by the government and opposition parties” in the weeks preceding the shooting. During this time, President Petro was seeking support for unpopular reforms that were lambasted by opposition figures as unconstitutional, including Senator Uribe himself.
Concern over rising political tensions in Colombia, and how they may have contributed to a climate which encouraged the extreme violence seen on June 7, manifested themselves in the president now facing a formal criminal complaint on behalf of Uribe’s family, for what is being described as “institutionalized harassment”. The evidence published with this complaint consists of over 40 social media posts from Petro’s official channels, that the family claim fostered hostile feelings and violent action against the victim. These sentiments were echoed by the US Secretary of State, Mark Rubio. He blasted Petro, claiming that it was the so-called "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government" that was the real cause of the attack. However, the Secretary of State did fail to provide any evidence to back up these serious accusations.
As well as the events of June 7 raising serious questions about the safety of political candidates and Gustavo Petro’s premiership, it has also already had a tangible impact on current election polling. Although Miguel Uribe Turbay is still in intensive care and absent from public life, the senator is currently leading early polls for the 2026 election, securing 13.7 per cent support out of 75 candidates. This is “the first time he has led a national presidential poll”, with voter support for the candidate surging in the aftermath of his assassination attempt. It is thought that this has been informed by both public sympathy and support for Uribe’s hardline stance on crime and insecurity.
Most Popular Presidential Candidates for 2026 Election (% support)
The focus now for many is on Miguel Uribe Torbay’s recovery, so that he is not consigned to the history books as yet another fatality of political violence in Colombia, like his mother. If the senator does indeed recover and is strong enough to continue his campaign, he could very well find himself becoming the next president of Colombia, following in his grandfather’s footsteps. Either way, Miguel Uribe Torbay will mark Colombia’s politics for years to come, either as the case that potentially brings down Petro’s leftist project, or the man who went from ICU to the presidential palace.
