Colombian senator Uribe shows little response to treatment after shooting

BOGOTA — Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe, a potential presidential contender, remains in critical condition and has shown little response to treatment after being shot in Bogota, the hospital treating him said on Monday.

Uribe, 39, is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Center party and was shot in the head as he was addressing a campaign event on Saturday in a public park in the capital. The shooting, which was caught on video, has shaken Colombia, evoking the political violence of previous decades.

"His condition is extremely serious," the Santa Fe Foundation hospital said in a statement. "Therefore the prognosis remains cautious."

Colombia has long been embroiled in conflict with leftist rebels and criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, though the motive for the attack on Uribe remains unclear.

Leftist President Gustavo Petro has vowed to bring peace, negotiating with rebel groups to get them to put down their arms, but with little success.

Uribe comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather Julio Cesar Turbay was president from 1978 to 1982 and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a rescue operation after being kidnapped by an armed group led by drug lord Pablo Escobar. He is not related to former president Alvaro Uribe.

Petro said on Sunday he had ordered additional security for government officials and opposition members in response to more threats, though the details of the threats were murky. Ex-President Uribe, who founded the Democratic Center party, also said he had been informed of plans to attack him.

It is not known why Senator Uribe, who was vying for the candidacy of his party, was attacked. He was polling well behind other party candidates at the time of the shooting.

A young teen found to be carrying a 9-mm pistol was arrested after the shooting. The gun was purchased in Arizona, the head of police said, and authorities are investigating how it reached Colombia.

Authorities had yet to interrogate the boy as he was receiving medical care, Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo said on Monday. However, she said that if the teen were a gun-for-hire, he would likely have little information about the motive.

"There are several hypotheses," Camargo said. "It could have been an attack on the opposition, or it could have been an attempt to destabilize the country, or the government, or it was armed illegal groups responding to the progress made in the peace process."

The suspect faces charges of attempted murder and illegal possession of a weapon, she added. But as he is a minor, he faces up to eight years in a rehabilitation center instead of prison. — Reuters