Miguel Uribe Turbay

Miguel Uribe Turbay
Uribe Turbay in 2019
Senator of Colombia
In office
20 July 2022 – 11 August 2025
Secretary of Government of Bogotá
In office
1 January 2016 – 22 October 2018
MayorEnrique Peñalosa
Preceded byGloria Flórez
Succeeded byJuan Miguel Durán
Bogotá City Councilor
In office
1 January 2012 – 31 December 2015
LeaderHoracio José Serpa
Personal details
Born
Miguel Uribe Turbay

(1986-01-28)January 28, 1986
Bogotá, D.C., Colombia
DiedAugust 11, 2025(2025-08-11) (aged 39)
Bogotá, Colombia
Cause of deathGunshot wound
Political partyDemocratic Centre (2021–2025)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse(s)
María Claudia Tarazona
​
​
(m. 2016)​
MotherDiana Turbay
FatherMiguel Uribe Londoño
Relatives
Education
  • University of the Andes (MA)
  • Harvard Kennedy School (MA)[1]
Websitemigueluribe.com

Miguel Uribe Turbay (January 28, 1986 – August 11, 2025) was a Colombian lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Senate of Colombia from 2022 until his assassination in 2025. He was also a pre-candidate for the presidency of Colombia in the 2026 election.

On June 7, 2025, during the pre-campaign campaign, Uribe Turbay was attending a tour of the Modelia neighborhood organized by Víctor Mosquera, a council member of his party from the town of Fontibón. During his speech, he was shot by a 15-year-old Élder José Arteaga Hernandez and was under care in intensive care. He died two months later from his injuries.

Political career

In 2012, Uribe was elected to the Bogotá City Council for the Colombian Liberal Party. In 2016, he was appointed secretary of the government of Bogotá under Mayor Enrique Peñalosa. He ran for mayor of Bogotá in 2018 as an independent, but lost to Claudia López of the Green Alliance.[2]

In the 2022 parliamentary election, he was elected to the Senate for the Democratic Centre (CD).[2][1]

Presidential pre-candidacy

On March 4, 2025, Miguel Uribe Turbay officially announced his presidential candidacy on his Democratic Center party's presidential ticket. Uribe is facing María Fernanda Cabal, Paloma Valencia, Andrés Guerra, and Paola Holguín.

According to polls conducted at the end of 2024, Miguel Uribe appeared to be the party's favorite, slightly ahead of Cabal. However, the other pre-candidates questioned the poll. Disputes continued within the party, with Uribe Turbay's group favoring determining the candidate through a poll, as had been the case for the 2018 elections. However, the other four candidates opposed such a mechanism, considering it unreliable.

Personal life

In 2016, he married María Claudia Tarazona, with whom he has a son, Alejandro. The wedding, held at the Bogotá Country Club, was a prominent event in the national political arena, attended by former presidents, ministers, senators, and prominent public figures.

Death

On June 7, 2025, in the town of Fontibón in Bogotá, in the middle of a political event to determine his party's presidential candidate, the pre-candidate was shot several times, two of which hit him in the head and one in one of his legs.

Turbay was taken to a local medical center, and the alleged hitman of the incident, a 14-year-old minor, was captured at the scene. The case shocked the international community and internally all the country's political parties, who strongly rejected the attack.

He died at age of 39 on August 11, 2025 from hemorrhaging in the central nervous system as a result of the attack.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Miguel Uribe Turbay" (in Spanish). Senate of Colombia.
  2. 1 2 "Quién es Miguel Uribe Turbay, el precandidato presidencial del partido de Álvaro Uribe en Colombia que fue baleado en un mitin en Bogotá". BBC Mundo. 8 June 2025. Archived from the original on 8 June 2025. Retrieved 8 June 2025.
  3. ↑ "Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe dies two months after being shot". 11 August 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.

Other websites