It was all captured on video.
An assassination attempt against a Colombian senator and presidential hopeful Saturday has horrified much of the nation, and not just because it represents the highest-profile political violence in the country in years.
The attempt against Miguel Uribe Turbay, 39, a conservative politician and the grandson of a former president, took place at a campaign event in the capital, Bogot谩, while a small army of cellphone cameras rolled. Videos that spread rapidly online and were verified by The New York Times show the suspect listening to Uribe deliver a campaign speech, then shooting him from behind, running away, and finally being pinned to the ground as Uribe bleeds profusely nearby, held up by his crying colleagues.
A white car smeared with his blood, pictured in numerous videos and photos, has quickly become a symbol of the attack. And the videos, taken together, have come to reflect some Colombians鈥� fears that the nation is headed back to the violence that shaped it from the 1980s to the early 2000s, when attacks linked to drug traffickers and left-wing guerrillas were regular occurrences in major cities.
鈥淲e lived through a terrifying time,鈥� said Sonia Ballen, 61, who on Sunday marched many blocks with other supporters of Uribe to the hospital where he was being treated. 鈥淎nd here we are starting to see it again.鈥�
Sunday morning, the medical director at the hospital, the Santa Fe Foundation in Bogot谩, said Uribe鈥檚 condition was 鈥渆xtremely serious.鈥� The director, Dr. Adolfo Llin谩s Volpe, said the hospital would not release information about the senator鈥檚 prognosis.
While authorities have announced the capture of one suspect, a minor, they have offered no motive, fueling speculation about what led to the attack. Uribe has argued for a hard-line approach to the country鈥檚 armed groups, in contrast to Colombia鈥檚 president, Gustavo Petro, a leftist who has promised to strike peace deals with them.
Petro鈥檚 failure to do that, and a rise in kidnappings, displacement and violence, mostly in the countryside and smaller cities, has led to criticism from both the right and left.
The country鈥檚 largest remaining leftist guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army 鈥� once thought to be open to a deal with the president 鈥� has since become openly hostile to him.
Uribe has been a vocal critic of the National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish initials as the ELN, and of Petro鈥檚 approach to the group. The two politicians have frequently sparred online over security and other issues.
But Uribe has not been any more outspoken or critical on those topics than other conservatives in Colombia, and he was not considered a leading presidential candidate.
Instead, the senator was viewed as a symbol of the country鈥檚 past 鈥� and now, the fear that it could be repeated. His mother, a journalist named Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 after being kidnapped by Pablo Escobar鈥檚 Medell铆n cartel, a highly publicized case. Uribe was just 4 at the time.
Juan Abel Guti茅rrez, a Colombian political strategist, said that whoever was behind the shooting Saturday likely wanted to send a message to the country.
鈥淚f you are going to attack a candidate in a political rally where there are 500 cellphones, that is the guarantee that the horror is going to spread quickly and that people are going to be gripped by fear,鈥� he said.
Uribe comes from a prominent, wealthy political family in a nation where tensions over inequality and class divides have fueled decades of deadly struggles.
His grandfather, Julio C茅sar Turbay, was president from 1978 to 1982 during a period of intense guerrilla violence. During that time, he relaxed constitutional standards to allow for wiretapping, warrantless home searches, arbitrary arrests and other measures that critics said unfairly targeted prominent intellectuals, according to Federico G贸mez Lara, the director of the Colombian political magazine Cambio.
Uribe鈥檚 mother 鈥� daughter of the president 鈥� was one of the country鈥檚 best-known journalists in the 1980s. She was kidnapped at a time when Escobar was targeting people 鈥渇rom the so-called high society,鈥� said G贸mez, to protest the extradition of Colombians to the United States.
Uribe started young in politics. At 25 he was elected to the Bogot谩 City Council. At 29, the mayor of Bogot谩 appointed him secretary of government, a prominent position. He later launched a failed bid for mayor of the capital, and in 2022 joined the Senate.
The next presidential election is not for a year, with a first round slated for May 31. Guti茅rrez, who is advising an independent presidential candidate in the race, said that in the wake of the attack the campaigns had been communicating with one another.
All of them 鈥渁re collapsed with fear,鈥� he said. They are particularly concerned about traveling to areas beyond Bogot谩, where armed groups have a stronger presence.
The country was already deeply divided before the shooting over how to tackle conflict in the countryside, insecurity in the cities and issues like inequality, health care and labor regulation. A day after the attack, dueling events in the capital highlighted that polarization.
In the morning, supporters of Uribe marched through a wealthier part of the capital, wearing white and yelling: 鈥淢iguel is alive! But where is the motive?!鈥�
Outside the hospital, they chanted loudly, at times criticizing the president. 鈥淧etro get out!鈥� they said.
Among those at the march supporting Uribe was Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who was kidnapped on the campaign trail in 2002 by left-wing guerrillas and spent six years in captivity.
Surrounded by bodyguards, she called for national unity.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 sleep thinking about what I had seen,鈥� she said of the shooting videos. 鈥淭hey can鈥檛 keep dividing us between left and right.鈥�
In the afternoon, in the city鈥檚 central plaza, backers of Petro gathered for a previously scheduled concert meant to rally support for the president鈥檚 political initiatives. The headliner, Al2, dedicated his performance to two young Colombians who had died in street protests against a previous right-wing government.
Some Colombians criticized Petro鈥檚 decision to let the concert go ahead less than a day after the attack on Uribe. But several concertgoers defended it.
Luis Ram铆rez, 38, said that people were injured or killed every day in Colombia 鈥� but that no one cancels a concert for them.
鈥淚t鈥檚 regrettable that an important right-wing politician鈥� was attacked, he said, then added: 鈥淏ut he shouldn鈥檛 be the only important one. Everyone in Colombia has equal worth, regardless of their social status.鈥�
This article originally appeared in. 漏 2025 The New York Times
