Colombia presidential hopeful shot in head at rally

BOGOTA — A Colombian presidential candidate is in a critical condition after he was shot three times — reportedly twice in the head — at a campaign event in the capital, Bogotá.

Miguel Uribe Turbay, a 39-year-old senator, was attacked while addressing supporters in a park on Saturday. Police arrested a 15-year-old suspect at the scene, the attorney general's office said.

Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, called on the nation to pray for his survival. "Miguel is currently fighting for his life. Let us ask God to guide the hands of the doctors who are treating him," she said.

Uribe's Centro Democratico party condemned the attack, calling it a threat to "democracy and freedom in Colombia".

Phone footage shared online appears to show the moment when he was shot in the head mid-speech, prompting those gathered to flee in panic.

Paramedics said he had been shot in the knee and twice in the head, AFP news agency reported. He was airlifted to a hospital where supporters gathered to hold vigil.

Uribe underwent surgery and was in the first critical hours of recovery, Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán said late on Saturday night.

The 15-year-old suspect was shot in the leg while police and security officers pursued him after the attack, according to local media.

He was arrested carrying a "9mm Glock-type firearm", a statement from the attorney general's office said. An investigation is under way.

The government of left-wing President Gustavo Petro said it "categorically" condemned the attack as an "act of violence not only against his person, but also against democracy".

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the "vile attack" and offered a 3bn peso ($730,000; £540,000) reward for information about who may be behind it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the shooting as a "direct threat to democracy".

He blamed the attack, without providing examples, on "violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government". The suspect's motivation is still unknown.

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 is a "political difference" between Uribe and the government, but it is "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," he added.

Uribe, a right-wing critic of Petro, announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election in October. He has been a senator since 2022.

He is from a prominent political family in Colombia, with links to the country's Liberal Party. His father was a union leader and businessman.

His mother was Diana Turbay, a journalist who was killed in 1991 in a rescue attempt after she had been kidnapped by the Medellin drugs cartel run at the time by Pablo Escobar. — BBC