The death of Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay makes the young Colombian politician the eighth presidential candidate assassinated in the history of this South American nation. Thus, Colombia is once again plunged into mourning and recalls a turbulent past of political violence that, contrary to what was believed, appears far from being overcome.
In over two centuries of republican history, these assassinations of public figures have marked turning points in politics and left profound social consequences. Despite belonging to very different eras and political contexts, all eight cases share a tragic reality: political intolerance and the trivialization of human life.
Miguel Uribe becomes the eighth assassinated Presidential Candidate in Colombia’s history
After being admitted to an intensive care unit in Bogotá, the life of young Senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe ended this Monday morning, August 11. An intracranial hemorrhage, resulting from wounds inflicted by a teenage contract killer just over two months earlier during a campaign rally, claimed the life of the Bogotá politician.
Beyond the condemnations and condolences arriving from both inside and outside Colombia, this tragic event serves as a reminder that, despite what was believed, the turbulent eras of political violence have not ended in the country.
Uribe, 39, leaves behind a widow and a young child, but also a nation shaken by the confirmation of a violent, senseless, and criminal death that will mark next year’s presidential elections.
As in the past, the intent to manipulate elections undemocratically through violent actions will shape the country’s future. Colombia must remember that, beyond political affinities or disagreements, democracy must prevail, and repudiation of such acts admits no conditions today—just as it should not have in the past.
Rafael Uribe Uribe (1914)
Considered one of the most brilliant intellectuals and Liberal leaders of his time, Rafael Uribe Uribe was a general in the Thousand Days’ War and a reformist politician who championed social and labor changes for workers and peasants.
On October 15, 1914, he was hacked to death with axes in Bogotá by two carpenters, allegedly over labor disputes, though official history has always been accompanied by suspicions of political motivations.
Killed at 54 during an era of Conservative political hegemony, Uribe faced public attacks for refusing to support a coalition with the Conservatives, leading him to be labeled “The Consul of Disrepute.”
Despite warnings of plots against his life, the Liberal politician continued his work schedule. His death left Liberalism orphaned of a figure capable of leading a peaceful transition in times of intense partisan tension.
Although the perpetrators were quickly arrested, the mastermind or masterminds were never identified, and the Liberal leader’s death became another mystery among the darkest pages of Colombian politics.
Jorge Eliécer Gaitán (1948)
The assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, a Liberal leader and charismatic figure with immense popular appeal, is likely the most remembered political assassination of 20th-century Colombia. On April 9, 1948, Gaitán was shot in downtown Bogotá, very near his office.
His death triggered an immediate and violent popular uprising known as “El Bogotazo,” which left thousands dead and destroyed much of the city.
Distancing himself from the moderate positions of the Liberal Party, Gaitán presented himself as a populist leader and was recognized as such by most of the population, including his enemies.
As with Uribe Uribe, Gaitán’s direct assassin, Juan Roa Sierra, was quickly identified, though the mob killed him shortly before dragging his body to the Presidential Palace. This act ignited the violence that destroyed downtown Bogotá and opened a new chapter of widespread violence in the country.
The crime, whose intellectual authorship was never fully clarified, unleashed a period of partisan violence that lasted over a decade and marked the beginning of a spiral of armed conflicts that still affect the country today.
Jaime Pardo Leal (1987)
Jaime Pardo Leal was the presidential candidate for the left-wing Patriotic Union (UP) party in 1986. The party emerged two years earlier from peace talks between the government of Belisario Betancur and the now-defunct FARC guerrillas. It represented the first attempt to achieve the guerrilla’s political participation democratically and in coalition with other leftist forces.
Pardo Leal’s death, along with thousands of other UP members, became a symbol of intolerance and political persecution against this group during a sorrowful period when political violence intertwined with drug trafficking.
A lawyer, judge, and union leader, Pardo tirelessly denounced crimes against UP members and demanded guarantees for their democratic participation. On October 11, 1987, he was assassinated by hitmen at his farm in La Mesa, a town south of Bogotá.
He was intercepted by a vehicle while traveling in his truck with his family and was hit by a shotgun blast.
Protests and demonstrations erupted nationwide after the attack, including in Bogotá, leaving one police officer and eight civilians dead.
His death is part of the systematic extermination of the UP, which international bodies have recognized as political genocide.
Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento (1989)
Luis Carlos Galán, father of Bogotá’s current mayor, Carlos Fernando Galán, was a presidential candidate for the New Liberalism movement and the clear frontrunner for the 1990 elections.
However, his anticipated electoral victory was prevented when he was assassinated on August 18, 1989, during a campaign rally in Soacha, a municipality south of Bogotá, under circumstances reminiscent of the attack suffered by Miguel Uribe this year.
Galán had promised an all-out fight against drug trafficking, particularly the Medellín and Cali cartels, and supported extraditing drug lords to the United States.
His assassination was ordered by drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and carried out with the complicity of corrupt elements within the public security forces. Galán’s death shocked the nation and accelerated constitutional reforms, though political violence continued.
Years later, it was confirmed that the politician’s security detail was altered to leave him exposed. Men disguised as Galán supporters fired automatic weapons at the stage. Besides the presidential candidate, one of his bodyguards and Soacha councilman Julio Peñaloza were killed.
Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa (1990)
Also a UP presidential candidate like Pardo Leal, Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa represented a reformist line within the Colombian left. He became a protagonist in the violence that characterized the 1990 electoral campaign, which ended with three candidates assassinated.
Despite threats, Jaramillo continued his campaign, denouncing paramilitary violence and these groups’ collusion with state actors.
On March 22, 1990, he was assassinated by a 16-year-old hitman, Arturo Gutiérrez Maya, at Bogotá’s El Dorado airport. His death, occurring just weeks before the elections, reinforced the message that participating in politics from certain ideological positions could cost one’s life in Colombia.
It was later revealed that the teenager had been trained as part of a hit squad by former Israeli soldier and mercenary Yair Klein, under a dark alliance between the paramilitary group known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) and Pablo Escobar’s powerful Medellín cartel.
In November 2012, Klein claimed his criminal activities were known and encouraged by the governments of the time, though he named no names initially. Shortly after, he asserted his clandestine activities received support from Colombian intelligence and police, implicating various landowners, including former President Álvaro Uribe, as his main financiers.
Carlos Pizarro Leongómez (1990)
Former commander of the demobilized M-19 guerrilla group and architect of its peace agreement with the government, Carlos Pizarro had laid down his arms to run for president.
On April 26, 1990, during a flight to Barranquilla, a 17-year-old hitman, Gerardo Gutiérrez Uribe, shot him dead. Passengers on that flight reported that the assailant was killed by police on the plane after he was already disarmed and restrained, fueling suspicions of state agency complicity in the crime.
Pizarro represented a historic opportunity for reconciliation, as his candidacy symbolized the entry of an insurgent movement—urban-based and highly popular—into the democratic arena.
Father of current pro-government Historical Pact Senator María José Pizarro, his assassination cut short that process and generated deep disillusionment about the viability of political peace.
Despite 35 years having passed since the assassination, only one person has been convicted in Colombia for the crime: Jaime Ernesto Gómez, a former agent of the DAS intelligence service, who killed the hitman on the plane.
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado (1995)
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, a Conservative leader, intellectual, and journalist, was assassinated on November 2, 1995, in Bogotá, while driving home after teaching classes at Sergio Arboleda University.
Son of former President Laureano Gómez—accused of alleged complicity in the 1940s assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán—his political career included three presidential bids and high-level diplomatic posts.
An unorthodox Conservative, Gómez became a fierce critic of corruption and an advocate for deep reforms to the political system in his later years.
Following the crime, the government declared a State of Internal Commotion in Colombia, lasting eight months. Investigations into his murder spanned decades until, in 2020, the former FARC guerrillas—demobilized and undergoing restorative justice—acknowledged responsibility, though their motivations remain debated.
Álvaro Gómez Hurtado’s family still maintains the crime was ordered by Orlando Henao, “El hombre del overol,” to fulfill an agreement with President Ernesto Samper’s government (1994-1998), a version supported by drug trafficker Luis Hernando Gómez, alias “Rasguño.”
A historical pattern of political violence in Colombia
The death of Miguel Uribe Turbay, heir to a prominent political family and an emerging figure on the national stage, joins a tragic chain spanning ideologies, parties, and generations. In every case, the assassinations not only cut lives short but also abruptly altered the country’s political course.
Colombia has witnessed how intolerance and violence have shut the door on democratic debate and peaceful transitions of power. Each assassination has left a legacy of fear, polarization, and the sense that politics, far from being a space for dialogue, can become a death sentence.
Over a century after the murder of Rafael Uribe Uribe, the list grows longer with Miguel Uribe, reminding Colombia that democracy remains fragile when bullets seek to replace ballot boxes.
Today, the country faces one of the darkest chapters in its political history once again. Shocked by the tragic outcome of the attack on Miguel Uribe, the eighth victim on this grim list of assassinated presidential candidates, the immediate future inevitably involves confronting political violence through institutions and with a broader state vision—demanded of all parties.