Bogota, Colombia. Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a presidential hopeful whose shooting at a June campaign rally evoked memories of the country’s drug-fueled political violence, died Monday, his family said. He was 39.

Uribe had been in intensive care since the attack, when he was shot three times, twice in the head, while delivering a speech in a Bogota park. His wife, María Claudia Tarazona, confirmed his death in a social media post.

“Rest in peace, love of my life. I will take care of our children,” she wrote. “I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you.”

A teenage suspect was arrested at the scene of the June 7 attack in a working-class neighborhood. Several others have since been detained, though authorities have yet to determine who ordered the hit or why.

The killing, caught on video, shocked Colombians unaccustomed to such violence against presidential candidates since Medellín drug lord Pablo Escobar’s war on the state in the 1990s. Uribe’s mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed during a police rescue attempt after being kidnapped by traffickers under Escobar’s orders.

“If my mother was willing to give her life for a cause, how could I not do the same in life and in politics?” Uribe said in a 2023 interview.

A Harvard-educated lawyer, Uribe began his political career at 26 as a Bogota city councilman. In 2022, he won the most votes in the conservative Democratic Center party, led by former President Álvaro Uribe, to whom he was not related.

“Evil destroys everything,” the ex-president said on social media. “They have killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light that illuminates Colombia’s path.”

Uribe was a sharp critic of President Gustavo Petro’s leftist government and announced his 2026 presidential bid in October. Allies say authorities ignored his repeated requests for increased security.

Petro offered condolences on X, writing that “regardless of ideology, the person and their family, their life and safety, are the government’s priority.”

The attack prompted the government to bolster security for all opposition figures and presidential contenders. Some rallies were canceled over safety concerns.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed condolences, saying the United States stands with Colombians “in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible.”

Political science professor Javier Garay of Externado University said Uribe has already “become a symbol of the Colombian right,” though it remains unclear whether his death will unite the fractured conservative bloc ahead of next year’s election.

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