Colombian Vice President calls for national unity against violence after the death of Miguel Uribe Turbay

Bogotá.- Colombia’s Vice President, Francia Márquez, made a call for national unity against violence this Monday after learning of the death of Senator and Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, two months after being seriously injured in an attack. “Colombian people: it is time to unite, to raise our voices strongly to reject all acts of violence. We cannot allow fear and hatred to continue taking away our lives and hope,” the vice president stated on her X account.

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Uribe Turbay, 39 years old and a senator for the right-wing Democratic Center party, had been admitted since June 7, the day of the attack, to the Santa Fe Foundation Clinic in Bogotá, where he died this morning. After “deeply” regretting the death of the politician, an opponent of the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Márquez warned of the danger of violence for the exercise of politics in the country. “Today is a sad day for the country. Violence cannot continue to mark our destiny. Democracy is not built with bullets or blood, it is built with respect, with dialogue and recognizing our differences, regardless of political position,” said the vice president. Since the day of the attack, Miguel Uribe Turbay underwent several surgical interventions at the Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation and although he showed some improvement, he never overcame the critical condition. His death occurred this morning, at 1:56 local time (6:56 GMT), according to Santa Fe, which last Saturday reported that the politician had suffered a hemorrhage in the nervous system that worsened his state of health. Uribe Turbay received two shots to the head and one to the left leg when he was leading a political rally in a park in the Bogotá neighborhood of Modelia as part of his political activity in the run-up to the 2026 presidential elections in which he aspired to obtain the nomination of the Democratic Center.