(Bogotá) - The hospital treating Miguel Uribe, a senator and presidential candidate in Colombia, said on Monday (June 9) that he remains in critical condition
and appeared to be showing little sign of responding to treatment efforts after being shot in Bogota in an attempted murder case, according to Reuters news
agency. Mr. Uribe, 39, a member of the right-wing opposition Democratic Center party, was shot three times in the back, two of them in the head, on Saturday.
While he was speaking at an election campaign event in a public square in the capital Bogota, the shooting, which was caught on video, shocked Colombia,
bringing it back to life the political violence of the past decade. The Santa Fe Foundation Hospital said in a statement: "His condition is extremely serious.
Therefore, the prognosis for his condition remains cautious." Colombia has long been embroiled in conflict with leftist rebels as well as criminal gangs that
have emerged from right-wing armed groups, but the motive for the attack on Uribe is still unclear. Leftist President Gustavo Petro has vowed to bring peace
through negotiations with the rebels to get them to lay down their arms, but so far has had little success. It is not clear why Senator Uribe, who is running
for the position of candidate to represent his party in the 2026 presidential election, was attacked. His popularity rating in past polls was far behind that
of other party candidates at the time of the shooting. A 15-year-old boy armed with a 9mm handgun was arrested after the shooting. The suspect faces charges
of attempted murder and illegal possession of a weapon. But because he is a minor, he could face up to eight years in a correctional facility instead of
prison.
