Alleged intellectual author behind the Colombian senator shooting, arrested presidential candidate, the authorities say

The alleged intellectual author behind the Conservative Colombian Senator Shot And presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay was arrested on Saturday, almost a month after the attack, police authorities said.

Elder José Arteaga Hernández, who uses the alias “Chipi” or “Costeño”, was arrested in a neighborhood in the northwest of the capital, Bogotá, the national police director, Major General Carlos Fernando Triana, told journalists.

The authorities had previously accused Arteaga and other suspected of being near the Park of Bogotá, where Uribe was shot in broad daylight on June 7. Three other people have been arrested for participating in the logistics and execution of the crime.

Charges against Arteaga include aggravated homicide attempts; Manufacture, trafficking and transport of firearms or ammunition; and use minors to commit crimes. Interpol issued a red notice against him on Friday.

It was not clear immediately on Saturday if Arteaga had a lawyer who could comment on his name. The authorities said they would make their first appearance in court during the weekend.

Triana last month said that Arteaga “has been involved in a crime life for more than 20 years, doing successful jobs in all kinds of crimes in Bogotá.”

Uribe was giving a political speech in the park when he was attacked from behind, supposedly by a minor who was captured while fleding. They shot him twice and once in the knee, News themezone reported. He submitted to a “neurosurgical” and “peripheral vascular procedure” at the Santa Fe Clinic in Bogotá to treat injuries, and since then has suffered more surgeries. He remains in intensive care.

Two other people, a man and a woman, were also injured.

The reason for the shooting is still being investigated. In October, Uribe announced his intention to run in the 2026 presidential elections in Colombia. From his seat in the Senate, he had become one of President Gustavo Petro’s most vowel critics.

The attack has been widely condemned in a country with a dark past in which drug cartels and insurgant groups murdered and kidnapped politicians. Uribe is the son of a journalist who was kidnapped and killed during one of the most violent periods in the country, in 1991. Shortly after the shooting, Secretary of State Marco Rubio The United States said “condemns the attempt at murder” in the strongest terms and described the attack “a direct threat to democracy.” He blamed “violent leftist rhetoric from the highest levels of the Colombian government” for the shooting.

“Having seen Colombia’s first -hand progress in recent decades to consolidate security and democracy, it cannot afford to return to the dark days of political violence,” Rubio said. “President Petro needs to return inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials.”

• Colombia