Colombian ex-leader known for contentious war on rebels pays tribute to slain presidential hopeful

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe on Saturday paid tribute to slain presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay at a Bogotá park where he was gunned down, calling for a stronger security crackdown as violence surges nationwide.

The 39-year-old politician was shot in the back while delivering a campaign speech in Colombia’s capital in June alongside a small security detail. The two men are not related but belong to the same political party.

“May this place symbolize an eternal flame, like Miguel’s eternal love for Colombia,” Uribe said beside a photo of Uribe Turbay. “May those who pass through this place find that Miguel inspires the security needed for peace to come one day.”

Uribe Turbay died in August after two months in intensive care. His death stunned the country, once again faced with the assassination of a politician campaigning for president, something not seen in three decades. In the wake of his death, his father Miguel Uribe Londoño announced he would take his son’s place and run for president.

The killing sparked a debate about how to prevent conflict in the South American country from roaring back in the lead-up to next year’s presidential election, a race in which the former leader is hoping to weigh in.

The former president was escorted Saturday by heavy security: Streets were closed, drones monitored the parks and police with rifles kept watch from the roof of a nearby house.

“If Miguelito Uribe had had this kind of security, he wouldn’t have been killed,” said Vilma Ramírez, a local resident, in tears. She joined the crowd of about 200 people gathered in the park.

The visit marked one of former President Uribe's first public appearances since a judge removed his house arrest order while he appeals a 12-year sentence for witness tampering and fraud convictions.

Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010, is best known for the heavy-handed military campaign that beat back Marxist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which signed a peace pact with the government in 2016.

The leader brought the rebel group to its knees, making Uribe the most powerful political voice on the right. But it also fueled accusations of human rights abuses, including that his government systematically slayed thousands of civilians, dressing many bodies up as guerrillas, in order to boost kill counts.

On Saturday, Uribe and members of his Democratic Center party demanded justice and a thorough investigation into the death of Uribe Turbay. Six suspects, including a minor alleged to have pulled the trigger, are in custody. Authorities are investigating whether a guerrilla faction born out of the now-defunct rebel group, known as FARC dissidents, were involved.

“Here the assassin, with drugs, money, and a chain of intellectual authors and instigators, took Miguel from us,” Uribe said, surrounded by members of his Democratic Center party.

The former president seeks to influence the 2026 legislative and presidential elections and strengthen the country’s right wing amid simmering discontent with current President Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader.

Under Petro, who ran on the promise that he would bring “total peace” to a conflict-torn nation, violence among warring criminal groups has only spiked.

On Thursday, 19 people, including police officers were killed in attacks involving explosives against a police helicopter and a car bomb in an urban area that left more than 70 injured.

“The country is falling apart at this moment. The war is back, the terror is back,” lamented Claudia Marcela Badillo, a retired police officer who attended the political gathering and had supported Uribe Turbay.