BOGOTÁ, Aug 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A conservative Colombian lawmaker escaped unharmed after being shot at on Wednesday, the same day murdered presidential candidate Miguel Uribe was buried.
Julio Cesar Triana, a vocal critic of Colombia’s leftist government, said his vehicle came under fire in the southern Huila region where dissident members of the defunct FARC guerrilla group are operating.
“They attacked us, they shot at us with a rifle and a pistol… We were hit several times,” a visibly upset Triana said in footage posted on X.
Several bullet holes could be seen in the vehicle’s windshield. No one was injured.
President Gustavo Petro dispatched a helicopter to evacuate Triana and said the military was engaging the attackers.
At Uribe’s funeral on Wednesday, his widow tearfully warned that the country must shake its dark history of political violence.
The 39-year-old conservative senator was shot in June while campaigning in the capital, Bogota, and died this week of his injuries.
Uribe’s assassination has placed the security of politicians and candidates at the center of public discussion ahead of elections in May 2026.
At least 74 candidates for elected office were murdered in Colombia between 2016 and 2024, according to Indepaz, an independent research group. — NNN-AGENCIES
