Miguel Uribe Turbay, the Colombian Senator whose political career embraced a family legacy and marked by a personal history of loss, died early Monday in Bogotá, more than two months after being shot at close range during a campaign rally. He was 39.
The attack, carried out on June 7 in the neighbourhood of Modelia, struck at the heart of the country’s political circles. According to the on-going investigation, a 15-year-old assailant fired at least three times, hitting Mr. Uribe twice in the head as he greeted supporters in the locality of Fontibón. He was first rushed to the Medicentro clinic before being transferred to the Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá, where a team of neurosurgeons and vascular specialists fought to save him through a series of complex procedures.
In the days that followed, there were moments of hope. A first operation appeared to bring signs of improvement. But on June 16, doctors reported an acute intracerebral hemorrhage, prompting emergency surgery. His condition became critical, with persistent brain swelling and uncontrolled bleeding.
While medical teams under surgeon Dr.Fernando Hakim worked tirelessly on Miguel Uribe, thousands of citizens gathered outside the hospital every day to pray for his recovery. On June 15, a “Marcha del Silencio” was held in the Colombian capital to tribute to legacy of a man who sought an end to political violence. From streetside vigils to the Silent March, Colombians called on President Petro to step back from inciteful online narratives that fuel political divisions.
The end came in the early hours of August 11. Hours before, his wife, María Claudia Tarazona, had told the nation his condition had worsened and invited Colombians to join her in praying the rosary. At 2 a.m., she confirmed the news herself: “You will always be the love of my life,” she wrote. “Thank you for a life full of love, thank you for being a father to the girls, and the best father to Alejandro.”
Miguel Uribe Turbay’s life story was inseparable from Colombia’s turbulent history. Born in Bogotá on January 28, 1986, he belonged to one of the country’s most influential political families. His grandfather, Julio César Turbay Ayala, served as president from 1978 to 1982. His father, Rodrigo Uribe Echavarría, was a Liberal Party leader. His mother, Diana Turbay, was a respected journalist and peace advocate whose kidnapping in 1990 by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel shocked the nation. She was killed the following year during a failed rescue operation, leaving Miguel – just five years old – without his mother.
That loss shaped his view of public service. “Violence took my mother, but it did not take away my will to serve,” he would later say.
Mr. Uribe studied law at the University of Los Andes, earning a Master’s in public policy there before completing a degree in public administration at Harvard. His combination of academic credentials and political lineage made him a natural leader in Colombia’s public life.
At 25, he was elected to Bogotá’s City Council in 2012, quickly emerging as a sharp critic of then-mayor Gustavo Petro, particularly over waste management and social policy. In 2014, he was elected council president. Two years later, Mayor Enrique Peñalosa appointed him Secretary of Government, making him the youngest person to hold that position in Bogotá’s history. His tenure brought achievements, including a sharp reduction in the city’s homicide rate.
In 2019, Mr. Uribe ran for mayor with the backing of more than 400,000 citizen signatures and support from several political groups, earning over 426,000 votes but falling short of victory. In 2022, he became the most-voted Senator in the country, leading the right-leaning Centro Democrático’s list. From the Senate, he was a steadfast critic of President Petro, focusing on security, economic stability, and the defense of democratic institutions.
On March 4, 2025, he formally launched his presidential campaign. Within weeks, he had become the frontrunner within the party, surpassing his close political friends María Fernanda Cabal and Paloma Valencia. Supporters saw in him the promise of renewal: a young leader with international vision, administrative experience, and a steady hand for turbulent times ahead.
The assassination has cast a shadow over the 2026 presidential race and reopened painful chapters in Colombia’s history. For many, the parallels are haunting: Mr. Uribe died at nearly the same age as his mother and left behind a young son, as he had been when she was killed.
Within hours of his death, tributes started to pour in from friend across the political spectrum. Former Bogotá mayor Enrique Peñalosa called him “the best of a new generation – prepared, principled, committed to Colombia’s future.” Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán remembered Miguel Uribe as “a great human being, an honest and courageous leader, a politician with a true vocation for service. I am deeply hurt and mourn his death.”
Beyond the Senate floor and campaign trail, those who knew Miguel Uribe remember his devotion to his family, his discipline, and his belief in conversation over ideological confrontation. Colleagues described him as someone who would spend hours in debate yet greet political opponents warmly afterward. Friends recall his quick humor, his insistence on arriving early to every meeting, and his quiet habit of carrying a photo of his mother in his briefcase.
While Colombians begin to mourn the silencing of a voice that had, for all its convictions and controversies, been rooted in a belief of a better nation, Miguel Uribe Turbay is survived by his wife, son Alejandro, and three daughters. “His assassination must be a turning point for Colombia. We cannot accept violence in our country. We cannot allow the violent, once again, to endanger the very core of our democracy, which has taken so much time and effort to build and maintain. They not only end a life and destroy a family but also attack democracy itself,” stated Mayor Galán. “Miguel’s death must unite us as a country to reject violence and defend, above all else, that life is a sacred value”.
Former Colombian President Iván Duque issued the following statement: “The best tribute we Colombians can pay to this great human being is to honor his legacy, with unity of purpose and full patriotism. Colombia mourns, but it will not surrender to the criminals who extinguished the life of an admirable young man”.
Miguel’s death has opened a deep void in Colombian politics – and in the hearts of those who saw in him the promise of a new chapter in the nation’s long and storied history toward reconciliation and peace.
