Colombian politics is reeling after the death of right-wing presidential hopeful and senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, who succumbed to injuries two months after being shot during a campaign rally. The attack, carried out by a teenage hitman, has been described as the country’s worst act of political violence in two decades.

Uribe, a prominent opposition voice and member of a storied political family, was gunned down in Bogotá on June 7 while campaigning for his party’s nomination in the 2026 presidential race. He spent weeks in intensive care, undergoing multiple procedures before dying early Monday morning at the Santa Fe Foundation hospital. Doctors said a hemorrhage in his central nervous system caused his final decline.

His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, posted a heartbreaking tribute online: “I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you. Rest in peace, love of my life; I will take care of our children.”

The killing evoked grim memories of Colombia’s bloody 1980s and 1990s, when presidential candidates were routinely targeted by drug cartels. Former President Álvaro Uribe — unrelated to the slain senator — mourned the loss, saying on X, “Evil destroys everything; they killed hope. May Miguel’s fight be a light that illuminates Colombia’s right path.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed condolences and vowed solidarity: “The United States stands in solidarity with his family, the Colombian people, both in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible.”

Authorities have arrested six suspects, including a 15-year-old gunman who claimed in a video to have been recruited by a local drug dealer. Two men accused of planning the assassination were apprehended in Medellín, but officials say they are still pursuing the “intellectual authors” of the attack.

Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez promised justice: “We will not allow the violent to intimidate or silence political voices needed in our democracy.” The government has offered a reward of 3 billion pesos (about $740,000) for information, with assistance from the United States, Britain, and the United Arab Emirates.

President Gustavo Petro called the killing “a defeat for Colombia and for life,” but critics have noted that Uribe’s murder underscores the ongoing threat to conservative and anti-socialist political voices in the country.

Uribe’s life was marked by both tragedy and resolve. His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a botched rescue operation after being kidnapped by Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel. Rising quickly in national politics, Uribe became a key figure in the Democratic Center party, known for his fierce criticism of Petro’s leftist policies, staunch defense of the separation of powers, and opposition to a labor reform referendum.

As Colombia mourns, questions remain over who ordered the assassination — and whether justice can be delivered in a nation still scarred by political violence.