Colombia Must Not Backtrack into Political Violence

WOLA condemns the attack on Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, one of the presidential candidates for Colombia’s Democratic Center party, on June 7. The senator remains in critical condition. This crime must be investigated and its perpetrators and masterminds brought to justice. We join the many voices of Colombians from all walks of life who demand that Colombia not regress into its historical past, when violence was used to silence politicians.

Colombia is a country with a long history of political violence. Between 1987 and 1990, five presidential candidates from different political parties were assassinated. The case that galvanized an entire generation was the assassination of Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento, the popular candidate of the Liberal Party, who was killed in 1989 at a public political rally by hitmen hired by drug lord Pablo Escobar. At the same time, on January 30, 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the Colombian state responsible for the extermination of more than 6,000 members of the Patriotic Union Political Party, which began in 1984 and lasted more than two decades. While assassinations and death threats against politicians and candidates for lower office continue to occur, the overall level of political violence has declined in recent decades. With the 2016 peace agreement, the country moved toward a more democratic political landscape that is more inclusive of diverse socioeconomic, ethnic, and regional voices.

Assassination attempts against politicians do not happen in a vacuum. While it is still unknown who was responsible for the attack on Senator Uribe, it is worth noting that political discourse, polarization, and the erosion of respectful political debate play a role in encouraging violence. In Colombia, social media and some media outlets, at all political levels, have raised the tone of unconstructive discourse among those who have differences of opinion on various political issues and matters. In 2024, the Edelman firm ranked Colombia as the second most polarized country in the world, after Argentina.

President Gustavo Petro has verbally attacked members of the opposition, former officials of his government, and business leaders who have not embraced his vision of government and have blocked his reforms. In turn, members of the opposition also make unfounded accusations and foment hatred. This type of language only increases polarization and hostility in a country under a government that claims to favor addressing differences through dialogue and political agreements. It is welcome that President Petro has ordered increased security for members of the opposition, but it would be better if he promoted respectful and constructive dialogue to find solutions to political issues where there are disagreements.