This Wednesday, Oct. 14, the widow of late Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, who was attacked in Bogota on June 7, 2025, and died two months later, made a statement that shocked Colombia. According to Maria Claudia Tarazona, the order to assassinate the presidential pre-candidate from the right-wing Democratic Center party “came from the Congress of the Republic.”
Tarazona made the explosive statements on the television news program Noticias Caracol, where she also asserted that, before the attack, she had received messages warning of a possible plan against Miguel Uribe and other Democratic Center politicians. Among the information she formally provided to the Attorney General’s Office, she recounted, were names, photographs, and conversations.
Tarazona’s statement raises the level of responsibility in the assassination even further because, until now, investigations by the Office of the Attorney General have reached the FARC dissident group known as the ‘Segunda Marquetalia,’ led by Luciano Marin Arango, alias “Ivan Marquez.” According to the investigating authority, the order is believed to have been issued by this organization.
Widow insists it was a state crime
Tarazona insisted on distinguishing between the hitmen and those who gave the order. She questioned the fact that the inquiries have been limited to that guerrilla group. For Tarazona, pointing only to that guerrilla group is insufficient: “Saying that it was the ‘Segunda Marquetalia’ is a very vague statement; it tells us absolutely nothing,” she complained.
“In my opinion, this line of investigation should lead to the conclusion that the Segunda Marquetalia received the information; they were not the masterminds, but rather received the order to assassinate Miguel,” she asserted. In short, in her view, members of the ‘Segunda Marquetalia’ acted only as executors.
On the contrary, she supported President Abelardo de la Espriella’s theory that it was a state crime: “One of the lines of investigation into Miguel’s murder is that it was a state crime. … There is evidence that points to the possibility that the order may have come from the national government,” she added.
According to Tarazona’s testimony on the television news program, one of the messages she received stated that “the money came from Venezuela and the order came from Congress.” For this reason, she indicated that the funds from Venezuela are consistent with what she and her lawyers have analyzed. “When we talk about Venezuela, we mean the dictatorship; of course it is the dictatorship. … That is where we have to get to: the Colombian government [under Gustavo Petro], its relationship with the Venezuelan dictatorship, and Miguel’s assassination.”
She also pointed to another serious lead: A member of the Comunes party, which emerged from the peace agreements with the FARC guerrilla group, was allegedly linked to the new hypothesis.
She called for an investigation into Comunes party lawmakers
According to Tarazona, a confidential source had warned her in advance about the murder plot, and she quoted the text she was given: “Candidate Miguel Uribe and possibly other Democratic Center presidential pre-candidates are going to be assassinated; the money came from Venezuela, and the order came from Congress.”
The report includes identities and photographs: “We have the names because they appear with their full names, there are photographs, and, well, we are waiting for that, as well as other results that should emerge as the investigation progresses,” Tarazona said.
She called for an investigation into Comunes party lawmakers: “What they must establish is whether people who were in Congress at that time, members of the FARC, had anything to do with Miguel’s assassination,” she said. She also indicated that a congressman, whose identity she did not reveal, had allegedly issued the order for the assassination from Congress.
In any case, Tarazona clarified that it is up to the authorities to verify the information. She said they are waiting for the Attorney General’s Office to open that line of investigation within the case, which already has seven convictions.
Political reactions
Immediately, Senate President Honorio Henriquez asked Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo to conduct a “priority, rigorous, and exhaustive” investigation because “Colombia deserves to know the truth about the murder of Miguel Uribe Turbay, and those responsible must answer to justice.”
For his part, former president Alvaro Uribe Velez, the leading figure of the Democratic Center party, said that “the pain of Uribe Turbay’s murder” “does not go away, and today it all comes back. And we are deeply concerned about the accusation made by his wife, Mrs. Maria Claudia. Please, give Maria Claudia all the support, all the protection, and ensure that this assassination is uncovered.”
Senator Hernan Cadavid, of the Democratic Center party, described Tarazona’s accusation as “serious” and called for a thorough investigation. “The peace agreement opened the doors of Congress to the FARC, granting seats and benefits while the country continued waiting for justice,” he said.
Several people involved in Uribe Turbay’s assassination have already been convicted: Katherine Andrea Martinez, alias ‘Gabriela’; Carlos Eduardo Mora Gonzalez, alias ‘El Veneco’; Simeon Perez Marroquin, alias ‘El Viejo’; Harold Daniel Barragan Ovalle, alias ‘Harold’; Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez, alias ‘El Costeno’ or ‘Chipi’; and William Fernando Gonzalez Cruz, alias ‘El Hermano’. All admitted their responsibility and received prison sentences of more than 20 years.
However, the investigation remains open. One line of inquiry calls into question the security arrangements surrounding Uribe Turbay before the attack. Documents and expert reports from two case files indicate that, six weeks after the attack, the Attorney General’s Office had already received information about a possible leak from the team responsible for protecting the senator, which may have facilitated the planning of the crime.
One of the elements that caught investigators’ attention dates back to Jan. 29, 2025, when the cellphones of two members of the security detail were detected in the same location in Modelia, a neighborhood in western Bogota, where the attack took place months later. At the time, Uribe Turbay was in Panama, and his wife was in Miami. The two bodyguards’ phones appeared again in April near Congress, close to the device of the same convicted individual.