Colombian and unpleasant presidential senator in an attempt to murder

The Colombian senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential elections next year, was shot and injured in a campaign rally in Bogotá on Saturday, authorities said.

His conservative party of the Democratic Center issued a statement that qualifies it as “an act of unacceptable violence.”

The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when the armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right -wing democratic center, which was the party of former President Alvaro Uribe. Men are not related.

The Office of the Attorney General, who is investigating the shooting, said that the senator received two gunshot wounds in the attack, which wounded two others. The office statement said a 15 -year -old was arrested on the scene with a firearm.

The Colombian government said it was offering a reward for the capture of all those responsible.

“Respect life, that is the red line,” said President Gustavo Petro in a message posted in his X account. Shortly after doing the position, Petro canceled a planned trip to France “due to the seriousness of the events,” according to a presidential statement.

In a statement on Saturday night, the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, said that the United States “condemns in the most solid terms possible the murder attempt of Senator Miguel Uribe.”

Rubio described the shooting in “a direct threat to democracy and the result of the violent leftist rhetoric from the highest levels of the Colombian government. Having seen the progress of first hand of Colombia in recent decades to consolidate security and democracy, it cannot afford to return to the dark days of political violence. President Petro needs to mark the inflammatory return and protect Colombian officials.”

Uribe Turbay is the son of a journalist who was kidnapped and killed in 1991 during one of the most violent periods in the country. Colombia will celebrate a presidential election on May 31, 2026, marking the end of the current period of Petro, the first leftist president of Colombia. The senator announced his presidential offer in March.

The Colombian police chief, General Carlos Triana, said that at the time of the attack, Uribe Turbay was accompanied by Councilor Andrés Barrios and 20 other people. A minor who supposedly participated in the attack was arrested in the scene and was being treated by a leg injury, he said.

“I have ordered Colombian military and police forces and intelligence agencies to display all their capacities to urgently clarify the facts,” said Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez.

The reactions came from around Latin America, with the Chilean president Gabriel Borico saying that “there is no place or justification for violence in a democracy”, and the Ecuadorian president, Daniel Nebnoa, says “we condemn all forms of violence and intolerance.” Both presidents offered solidarity to the senator’s family.

In Colombia, former President Uribe said that “they attacked the hope of the country, a great husband, father, son, brother, a great colleague.”

• Colombia