BOGOTA, Colombia

​​​​​​​Right-wing presidential candidate and Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, who sustained gunshot wounds at a June 7 campaign event in Bogota, underwent emergency neurosurgery on Monday after his condition deteriorated.

According to a hospital statement, "Patient Miguel Uribe Turbay required transfer a few minutes ago to the operating room for emergency neurosurgery due to clinical and imaging evidence of acute intracerebral bleeding."

The 39-year-old senator was shot twice in the head and once in the left leg while addressing supporters in Modelia, a neighborhood in the capital, Bogota. He had already undergone two surgeries on the night of the attack at Santa Fe Hospital, in addition to Monday's procedure.

On Sunday, thousands protested the attack on Uribe in major Colombian cities, including Bogota, Medellin, Cali, and Bucaramanga. Participants in the "silent march" wore white t-shirts and waved Colombian flags, advocating for peace in the streets and main squares.

"Be strong, Miguel!" echoed through most Colombian cities. In Bogota, thousands marched from the National Park to the iconic Plaza de Bolivar, where prayers, speeches, and a minute of silence marked the gathering.

The attack stirred memories of the violence and terror wielded by cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar against politicians in the 1980s and 1990s. Uribe Turbay's mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by a group working under Escobar and died in a failed rescue attempt.

Police have arrested three suspects in connection with the crime. A 15-year-old boy arrested at the scene is accused of carrying out the attack, while an adult is suspected of handling the "logistics." The motive behind the attack remains unknown.