Colombian senator and conservative presidential candidate hopeful Miguel Uribe died today in Bogota two months after an attack while campaigning for the 2026 race.
Uribe, 39, who had declared his intention to run, was shot twice in the head on 7 June in a public park, where he had a minimum security detail. Uribe was a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party, led by former president Alvaro Uribe, although the two are not related.
Uribe was recently sentenced to 12 years of house arrest after being found guilty of procedural fraud and witness bribery.
Uribe was an advocate for the mining and hydrocarbon sectors, including filing a lawsuit against a government decree that banned coal exports to Israel. At that time, Uribe told Argus on the sidelines of the Colombian mining association summit that the ban hurt business and economic freedom as well as coal companies and producing regions.
Six people remain detained for their alleged involvement in the plot to kill Uribe and police have implicated the involvement of an offshoot of the demobilized guerrilla group Farc.
The death of Uribe, grandson of former liberal president Julio Cesar Turbay and son of a well known journalist killed in a kidnap rescue attempt in 1991, will shake up the political landscape less than one year ahead of presidential elections, political analysts said.
President Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, ends his four-year term on 7 August 2026. Colombia will hold new presidential elections on 31 May, but it will move to a second round on 21 June if no candidate secures a 50pc-plus-one vote during the first round. In Colombia there are more than 40 potential presidential candidates potentially running.
After the assassination attempt, Uribe jumped to become the front runner among early candidates with 13.7pc in a July opinion poll carried out by pollster Guarumo and EcoAnalitica, compared with 4.5pc in April. Journalist Vicky Davila was next with 11.5pc and the leftist candidate Gustavo Bolivar with 10.5pc.
Isaac Morales, with the non-governmental organization the Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, said the death of Uribe will further polarize the political landscape.
Political analyst Carlos Velandia said the murder of Uribe may favor more extreme right political groups in the upcoming presidential campaign. Velandia also warned of the resurgence of more political violence ahead of elections, such as that which Colombia went through in the 1980s and 1990s.
