Colombian Presidential Contender Miguel Uribe Turbay Dies 2 Months After Being Shot at Campaign Rally

Colombian presidential contender Miguel Uribe Turbay died early on Aug. 11, according to the hospital where he had been for the past two months after being seriously wounded by gunshots during an election rally.

“The Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation regrets to inform that Sen. Miguel Uribe Turbay has died at 1:56 a.m. today,” the Santa Fe de Bogotá University Hospital said in a statement posted on X on Aug. 11.

The hospital said that the team that cared for the 39-year-old Uribe Turbay had “worked tirelessly for more than two months” since the aspiring candidate was admitted with serious injuries.

“Despite all efforts, this is a sad outcome, and we stand in solidarity with the entire Uribe Turbay family at this time of profound grief.”

Uribe’s wife, María Claudia Tarazona, confirmed the news in a message on Instagram dedicated to the Colombian senator for the Democratic Center party.

“You will always be the love of my life. Thank you for a life full of love, thank you for being a father to the girls, the best father to Alejandro,” Tarazona said.

“I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you.

“Our love transcends this physical plane. Wait for me, and when I fulfill my promise to our children, I will come for you and we will have our second chance.

“Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children.”

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez mourned the death of Uribe Turbay on social media.

“Evil destroys everything, they killed hope. May Miguel’s struggle be a light that illuminates the right path for Colombia,” the former president said in a brief post on X.

On June 7, Uribe Turbay was wounded in the head and left leg when he was shot several times from behind while holding a campaign rally in a park in the Fontibón neighborhood of Bogotá ahead of the 2026 presidential elections.

On Aug. 9, the hospital reported that Uribe suffered bleeding in the central nervous system, and his condition was once again considered critical with a guarded prognosis.

“This condition required new emergency neurosurgical procedures that have managed to stabilize him,” the hospital said at the time.

Uribe Turbay was born to Miguel Uribe Londoño, a trade unionist, and journalist Diana Turbay, daughter of former Colombian President Julio César Turbay Ayala (1978–1982). Turbay was killed during a failed rescue attempt in 1991 after being kidnapped for a year by an armed group under the orders of drug lord Pablo Escobar; Uribe Turbay was 4 years old when she died.

His grandmother, Nydia Quintero, former first lady of Colombia, who created the Solidarity for Colombia Foundation and raised Uribe Turbay after his mother’s death, died on June 30. Grandmother and grandson were being treated in the same hospital on different floors.