MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Senator Uribe Turbay's father picks up his son's baton

Uribe Londoño is familiar with the country's history of violence

The 79-year-old Miguel Uribe Londoño, father of the Colombian slain Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, announced Friday that he would fill his son's vacancy within the conservative Centro Democrático's presidential primaries. Uribe Turbay died on August 11 after being shot during a campaign event in June.

 Uribe Londoño was welcomed into the selection process by the party, which plans to choose a final candidate in late 2025 or early 2026. At his son's funeral, Uribe Londoño invoked the memory of his late wife, Diana Turbay (Miguel Uribe Turbay's mother), who was also killed by violence, and vowed to seek justice.

“Today, 34 years later, this absurd violence has also taken from me that same child who became a good man, a loving husband, an exemplary father, and an honest and courageous leader: Miguel Uribe Turbay. Today, 34 years later, we also had to tell my grandson Alejandro, Miguel's four-year-old son, that his father was also murdered,” he said then. Uribe Londoño also warned that his son's murder “has no statute of limitations.”

“We will devote all our efforts to ensuring that sooner rather than later, the full weight of justice falls on those truly responsible,” he pledged.

“There are guilty parties and those responsible for this war, we know that. We have no doubt where the violence comes from. We have no doubt who promotes it. We have no doubt who allows it. We have to stand up to this and say: No more, no more, no more. We cannot remain resigned and passive,” he further noted.

“The Centro Democrático Party and its presidential candidates welcome Mr. Miguel Uribe Londoño, who, as of today, enters the presidential candidate selection process,” the party said in a statement.

“Mr. Uribe Londoño said that Miguel Uribe Turbay's family unanimously decided that he should enter the selection process for the Centro Democrático party's presidential candidate in his son's absence,” it added.

The candidate chosen later this year “will subsequently participate in a consultation on March 8 to choose a single candidate from a popular democratic unity to rebuild the nation's democratic path,” the communiqué also explained.

The party's five presidential candidates for the 2026 elections are Paloma Valencia Laserna, María Fernanda Cabal, Paola Holguín Moreno, Andrés Guerra Hoyos, and Miguel Uribe Londoño, it was then confirmed.