A Colombian presidential candidate has been shot 3 times – reportedly twice within the head – at a marketing campaign occasion within the capital, Bogota.
Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, was attacked whereas addressing a small crowd in a park on Saturday. Police arrested a 15-year-old suspect on the scene, native media say.
His spouse, Maria Claudia Tarazona, known as on the nation to hope for his survival. “Miguel is at the moment combating for his life. Allow us to ask God to information the fingers of the medical doctors who’re treating him,” she mentioned.
Uribe’s Centro Democratico social gathering condemned the assault, saying that it “endangers the lifetime of a political chief… democracy and freedom in Colombia”.
Telephone footage shared on-line seems to indicate the second when he was shot within the head mid-speech, prompting these gathered to flee in panic.
Paramedics mentioned he had been shot within the knee and twice within the head, AFP information company reported. He was airlifted to Sante Fe clinic the place supporters have gathered outdoors to carry vigil.
The federal government of left wing President Gustavo Petro mentioned it “categorically and forcefully” condemned the assault as an “act of violence not solely towards his particular person, but in addition towards democracy.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio additionally condemned the capturing as a “direct risk to democracy”.
Uribe introduced his candidacy for subsequent yr’s presidential election in October.
He’s from a distinguished political household in Colombia, with hyperlinks to the nation’s Liberal Occasion. His father was a union chief and businessman.
His mom was Diana Turbay, a journalist who was killed in 1991 in a rescue try after she had been kidnapped by the Medellin medicine cartel run on the time by Pablo Escobar.
