Bogota, Colombia – Colombian authorities on Tuesday charged a 15-year-old with tried homicide for the assasination try on Miguel Uribe, the conservative presidential candidate who was shot within the head this weekend and is now in crucial situation.
The Lawyer Normal’s workplace mentioned {the teenager} shot at Uribe throughout a rally in Bogota’s Modelia neighborhood and was captured fleeing the scene with a gun. {The teenager}, whose identify has not been launched, pleaded not responsible to the fees. He’s at the moment recovering in a hospital from leg wounds.
Colombia’s Protection Minister mentioned on Tuesday that authorities are nonetheless investigating who could have been behind the assault on Uribe, a 39-year-old senator and one of many nation’s most seen opposition figures.
Armed teams in Colombia steadily recruit minors for assassinations and different crimes, a apply pushed by the lenient penalties they face beneath Colombian regulation. {The teenager} charged with tried homicide on Tuesday faces as much as eight years in detention. A decide has ordered his detention at a juvenile heart as soon as he leaves hospital.
The assault on Uribe has been extensively condemned in Colombia, the place many citizens are involved concerning the nation’s deteriorating safety state of affairs.
Uribe, whose maternal grandfather was a Colombian president, is the son of Diana Turbay, a outstanding information anchor who was assassinated in 1991 after being kidnapped by the highly effective Medellin Cartel.
Colombian opposition events have requested for better safety ensures within the wake of the assault, with some additionally urging President Gustavo Petro to reasonable his rhetoric, because the nation prepares for presidential elections subsequent yr.
Whereas Petro condemned the assault on Uribe, he typically refers to opposition leaders in his speeches and social media posts as “Nazis” “oligarchs” and “enemies of the folks.”
On Tuesday, Uribe’s spouse María Claudia Tarazona addressed journalists exterior the hospital the place the senator is being handled, calling for unity and calm.
“I name on each sector, on all of the political teams, on armed teams and on each nook of this nation to heal,” she mentioned, including that Uribe “is a warrior who’s preventing for his life.”
____
Comply with AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
