Colombia, gunfire at presidential election rally: candidate Uribe in critical condition

Right-wing senator and Colombian presidential candidate next year Miguel Uribe was seriously injured after being shot three times in Bogotá. The government is calling it an "attack."

Uribe, 39, was hospitalized in critical condition while one person was arrested . “Violence can never be the way… I sincerely hope that Uribe is well and out of danger,” Colombian Foreign Minister Laura Sarabia wrote on social media.

The paramedics who arrived on the scene after the attack during an electoral rally reported that Uribe was shot twice in the head and once in the knee . The senator has undergone an initial surgical operation and, as stated by the mayor of Bogotá Carlos Fernando Galán, "has entered the critical hours of his recovery." The attacker is presumably a fifteen-year-old.

"This is a threat to democracy and the result of violent left-wing rhetoric emanating from the highest levels of the Colombian government." With these words, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attempted assassination of conservative Senator Uribe. Addressing President Gustavo Petro, Rubio called for "toning down the inflammatory rhetoric and protecting Colombian officials."

(Online Union)