Colombia is heading into a deeply polarized presidential election amid renewed armed conflict and rising violence ahead of the poll.
The election campaign ahead of the first-round voting on May 31 has become Colombia's deadliest in decades, marked by the assassination of a leading presidential candidate and a series of bomb attacks in the country's south.
On Tuesday, the motorcade of ruling party Senator Alexander Lopez came under fire on a highway in the conflict-ridden southwestern region of the country.
"They just tried to kidnap the senator," President Gustavo Petro said, pinning the blame on "a drug-trafficking armed group."
Miguel Uribe Turbay, a senator, died after he was shot in the head at a campaign event in June last year [FILE: August 11, 2025]Image: Raul Arboleda/AFP
