Politics
Colombian presidential hopeful Uribe dies two months after shooting
BOGOTA: Colombian Senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe, who was shot in the head at a campaign event two months ago, died in the early hours of Monday at the age of 39, the hospital treating him said.
Uribe, a member of a prominent political family and a lawmaker for the right-wing opposition, was shot in Bogota on June 7 where he was speaking to try to secure his party’s nomination for 2026 elections.
His wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, announced his death on social media. “I ask God to show me the way to learn to live without you,” she wrote. “Rest in peace, love of my life, I will take care of our children.”
The attack was the worst outbreak of political violence in some two decades and evoked memories of the turbulent years of the 1980s and 1990s, when four presidential candidates were murdered in separate attacks blamed on drug cartels.
“The investigation should be deepened. It will be the appropriate authorities, helped by international experts, who will give information when the time comes,” President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X. “Every time a Colombian is murdered, it is a defeat for Colombia and for life.”
The capital’s Santa Fe Foundation hospital – where supporters held regular vigils during Uribe’s treatment and repeated operations – said over the weekend his condition had worsened because of a hemorrhage in his central nervous system. On Monday, it said he had died at 1:56am (0656 GMT).
Former President Alvaro Uribe, the leader of the senator’s Democratic Center party and no relation to the deceased lawmaker, wrote on X that “evil destroys everything; they killed hope”.
“May Miguel’s fight be a light that illuminates Colombia’s right path,” added the former president, who was sentenced by a judge earlier this month to 12 years of house arrest for abuse of process and bribery of a public official.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X he was deeply saddened by the news. “The United States stands in solidarity with his family, the Colombian people, both in mourning and demanding justice for those responsible.”
Six people have been arrested over the shooting, including two men that the attorney general’s office says met in Medellin to plan the assassination.
A 15-year-old accused of carrying out the shooting was arrested within hours of the crime, but police have said they are pursuing the “intellectual authors” of the attack.
In a video of the boy’s June arrest, independently verified by Reuters, he can be heard shouting that he had been hired by a local drug dealer.
Fraught family history
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez vowed on Monday to catch those responsible. “We will not allow the violent to intimidate or silence political voices needed in our democracy,” he wrote on X.
His ministry has said there is a 3 billion-peso (about $740,000) reward for information leading to the identification and capture of the culprits, and that the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates are helping with the investigation.
The death of Senator Uribe, a father and stepfather, adds further tragedy to his family’s fraught history.
His mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 during a botched rescue mission after she was kidnapped by the Medellin Cartel, headed by drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Uribe himself enjoyed a rapid political rise, as a lawmaker for the right-wing Democratic Center party and presidential hopeful known for his sharp criticism of leftist President Gustavo Petro’s administration.
In videos posted on social media the day he was shot, Uribe called for respect of the separation of powers and rejected a referendum pushed by Petro on a labor reform bill.
He had also criticised the president’s restrictions on the oil industry, promising a plan to attract investment and give companies legal security.
At 25, he was elected to Bogota’s city council, where he was a prominent opponent of Petro, then the capital’s mayor, criticising his handling of waste management and social programs.
In the 2022 legislative elections, Uribe led the Senate slate for the Democratic Center party. Since the shooting, Uribe’s seat in the Senate has been draped with a Colombian flag.
His maternal grandfather, Julio Cesar Turbay, was Colombia’s president from 1978 to 1982, while his paternal grandfather, Rodrigo Uribe Echavarria, headed the Liberal Party and supported Virgilio Barco’s successful 1986 presidential campaign.
Besides his wife, son and stepdaughters, Uribe is also survived by his father and sister.
DUBAI: Dubai has announced the implementation of a new public safety law introducing stricter regulations for public spaces and events, with fines ranging from AED500 ($136) to AED1 million ($272,000), authorities said.
Under the legislation, repeat violations within one year could result in fines of up to AED2 million, officials added.
The new law, which takes effect across the emirate on June 1, sets out enhanced safety requirements for public venues and gatherings.
The rules were issued by Dubai’s Ruler, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
According to the regulations, public venues and events must ensure safe entry and exit routes, adequate lighting, and capacity limits to prevent overcrowding.
Event organisers will be required to provide firefighting equipment, emergency evacuation plans, first aid facilities, and trained security personnel.
Compliance with safety instructions at public venues has been made mandatory.
The law also requires adherence to designated swimming times at beaches and prohibits access to restricted areas.
Possession of explosives or fireworks without a permit is banned, as is the use and transport of hazardous or flammable materials.
India has allowed an Iranian warship to dock as a humanitarian gesture, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Saturday, after the US sank another Iranian navy vessel off neighbouring Sri Lanka.
The Lavan docked at India’s southern port of Kochi on Wednesday, the same day the US submarine struck Iranian navy frigate Dena, after an urgent request from Tehran, an Indian government source told Reuters.
US President Donald Trump has said destroying the Iranian navy is one aim of the war he and Israel launched against the Islamic Republic a week ago.
The Lavan – an amphibious landing vessel, according to the US Naval Institute’s online news site – and two other ships “were coming in for a fleet review and then they got, in a way, caught on the wrong side of the events,” Jaishankar told the annual Raisina Dialogue event.
“I think we really approached it from the point of view of humanity, of other than whatever the legal issues were,” he said. “I think we did the right thing.”
At least 87 people were killed in the US attack on the Dena in Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone, 19 nautical miles off the coast, outside its maritime boundaries.
India received the docking request for the Lavan on February 28, the day the Iran war started, the source said late on Friday, adding that the request “was urgent as the vessel had developed technical issues”.
Its 183 crew members have been accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi, said the source, who asked not to be identified citing confidentiality.
The Dena was on its way back from a naval exercise organised by India, according to the drill’s website and Sri Lankan officials.
Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday that they were escorting the Iranian naval ship Booshehr to a harbour on the eastern coast and moving most of its crew to a navy camp near Colombo.
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Israel and Iran traded attacks on Saturday as the war entered a second week, while the Islamic Republic made an unusual apology to neighbouring states for its “actions”, apparently seeking to calm regional anger at Iranian strikes on Gulf civilian targets.
“I personally apologise to neighbouring countries that were affected by Iran’s actions,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said, urging them not to join US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
He said Iran’s temporary leadership council had agreed to suspend attacks on nearby states unless strikes on Iran originated from their territory.
Hours later, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their drones struck a US air combat centre at Al Dhafra Air Base, near Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Reuters could not independently verify that report.
Huge explosions were heard in several parts of the Iranian capital, state media reported.
Gulf states hit by drones and missiles
The US-Israeli war on Iran has already spilled beyond Iran’s borders, as Tehran has responded by hitting Israel and Gulf Arab states hosting US military installations and Israel has launched fresh attacks in Lebanon.
The UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have all reported drone and missile attacks over the past week.
Gulf states voiced immediate outrage that their civilian infrastructure — hotels, ports and oil facilities — were struck despite their having had no part in the US-Israeli attacks.
How far Pezeshkian’s statement reflects a decision to back off by Iran, or if it should be read as a warning that Tehran remains ready to strike across the region, is not yet clear, with some strikes still reportedly directed at Gulf states on Saturday morning.
Iran had mended fences with its Gulf neighbours in recent years, including with former regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia — a diplomatic campaign that imploded as the Revolutionary Guards launched a blitz of drones and missiles over the past week.
No deal without surrender, says Trump
While Gulf states host US military bases, they had told Washington they would not allow these to be used for any attacks on Iran.
Iran’s apparent strategy of maximum chaos has driven up the costs of the conflict by raising energy prices, hurting global business and logistics links and shaking trust in the stability of a critical region for the world’s economy.
Pezeshkian’s remarks come as diplomatic prospects for an end to hostilities appear bleak, with US President Donald Trump demanding Tehran’s “unconditional surrender”.
“There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.
“After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before,” he added.
The US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,332 Iranian civilians and wounded thousands, according to Iran’s UN ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani.
Iranian attacks have killed 11 people in Israel, and at least six US service members have been killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to Pezeshkian over the numerous civilian casualties resulting from “the armed Israeli-American aggression against Iran” and called for an immediate halt to hostilities, the Kremlin said.
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