Colombian Presidential Candidate Shot In Head During Rally, Critical

Bogota: In a shocking incident, a Colombian right-wing opposition senator and candidate to next year's presidential election was hospitalised on Saturday after being shot during a campaign event in Bogota, officials said.

The video of the incident soon went viral on the social media, which showed 39-year-old Miguel Uribe giving a speech in front of several people when a gunshot suddenly ring out.

Soon after the incident, images shows Uribe appeared slumped against the hood of a white car, smeared with blood, as a group of men try to hold him up, media reported.

According to local reports, the suspect shooter, is said to be a teenager and has been arrested.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo told Caracol Radio that Uribe was in "intensive care" following the incident. 

The government of leftist President Gustavo Petro said it "categorically and forcefully" condemned the attack on Uribe during the campaign event in the west of the capital.

"This act of violence is an attack not only against his person, but also against democracy, freedom of thought, and the legitimate exercise of politics in Colombia," the presidency said in the statement.

Uribe, a strong critic of Petro, is a member of the Democratic Center party, who announced last October his intention to run in the 2026 presidential election. His party also issued a statement and said that an "armed individual" had shot the senator from behind.

The attack "not only endangers the life of a political leader, but also threatens democracy and freedom in Colombia," the statement read.

The party leader, Colombia's influential former president Alvaro Uribe, meanwhile described the shooting as an attack against "a hope for the country."

Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan said on X that "the shooter has been captured."

Miguel Uribe is a member of a family with a long political tradition in Colombia. One of his grandfathers was former Colombia president Julio Cesar Turbay, who led the country from 1978 to 1982. And his mother, Diana Turbay, was a renowned journalist who was kidnapped by the Medellin Cartel, led by the notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar, and who was killed in a failed military rescue operation in 1991.

Uribe himself has been a senator since 2022. He previously served as Bogota's government secretary and city councilor.  He also ran for city mayor in 2019, but lost that election.

Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that authorities were offering a reward of around $700,000 for information leading to the capture of those behind Saturday's attack.