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Colombian opposition senator and presidential candidate Miguel Urib Turo was shot dead on Saturday night as a result of an attack that shocked the country with a long history of political violence.
The 39 -year -old Urieb Turbo left the campaign in the capital, organized by the party of the opposition Democratic Center when “armed subjects shot him in the back,” the party said.
The witness told the local newspaper El Tiempo that Uriebe said goodbye to the participants when the man on the back of the motorcycle shot three shots, one of which hit him in the head and the other in his chest. Mayor Bogot Carlos Galan said the militant had been arrested.
A conservative politician, who announced his intention to take place in the presidential election next year, was transferred to a hospital in the capital, which stated that he came in a “critical state” and is currently undergoing “neurosurgical and peripheral vascular procedures”.
Videos spreading in social media after the attack show a panicked and screaming crowd, and urbe with blood on the head and back.
Colombian President Gustavo President Petro, the first left leader of the country, made a statement “categorically and violently” condemning the attack and called for an investigation.
“This act of violence is not only an attack on the personal security of the senator, but also against democracy, freedom of thought and legitimate implementation of policy in Colombia,” the statement said.
The attack on Urbe sent strike waves through Colombia, a country that has been engaged in internal low -level conflict with guerrilla armies that were already underway, and their successors and organized criminal groups.
Political violence was worse in the 1990s when three presidential candidates were killed during the 1990 campaign. In 1991, the mother of Uriebe, journalist Diana Turo, was killed in a rescue operation after being abducted by Pablo Escobar’s drug card. He is the grandson of former President Julio Sesar Turo.
Despite the constant conflict in rural Colombia, major cities have become much safer in this century, and many believed that Colombian policy violence was sent to the past.
However, 48 hours before he was shot, Uriebe warned about the growth of violence. “They pull us back to the violent past,” he said at the banking conference on Thursday. “There is nothing without security.”
A shocking attack on Urbe also occurs against the backdrop of political tensions in Colombia. Petro launched verbal attacks on opposition politicians – including URIBE – for blocking the reform agenda, saying that the shadow elites are trying to carry out a “soft coup” against his government.
Former Foreign Minister Peter Alvar Leva called on the president to reduce the rhetoric in an open letter in April, in which he also claimed that his former chief was a drug addict.
US Secretary of State Mark Rubio made a statement condemning the shooting, which, he said, was “the result of a violent left rhetoric, which comes from the highest levels of the Colombian government.” “President Peter needs to gain inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials,” Rubio added.
Maria Jose Pizar, a senator from the Petro’s Petro’s Historical Party, whose Father Carlos Pisar was killed in 1990 while on the way of the campaign, called for an “urgent meeting of” Colombia’s political parties to “agree on democracy.”
“I am the daughter of a presidential candidate, killed in 1990, and history should not repeat myself,” Pizarro posted on X.
