Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe, a potential presidential contender, survived an initial operation for his injuries after being shot in Bogota on Saturday, according to his wife and the hospital treating him, although he remains in intensive care.

Uribe, 39, was shot in the head during a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood. He is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Center party founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. 

Campaigning is just beginning for the country's 2026 presidential election, and Uribe, who is from a prominent political family, does not have a well-known platform so far. It was unclear why he was targeted in the attack. Though he has talked about the need to improve security and about having personally suffered in the country's conflict, many other potential candidates, including others from his party, have also said steps must be taken to tackle crime.

Uribe's grandfather was president from 1978 to 1982, while his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was kidnapped in 1990 by an armed group under the command of the late cartel leader Pablo Escobar. She was killed during a rescue operation in 1991.

"Miguel came out of surgery, he made it. Every hour is a critical hour. He fought his first battle, and it went well," his wife Maria Claudia Tarazona told local media. "This will take time," she said. The couple are parents to a young son.

In a statement, the Santa Fe Foundation hospital where Uribe was treated said he had procedures on his head and his left thigh, and remained in intensive care as doctors seek to stabilise his condition. Bogota's mayor, Carlos Galan, whose own presidential candidate father was assassinated in 1989, addressed journalists outside the hospital overnight, saying he had asked for increased protection for all candidates in Bogota and for Uribe's family.

Meanwhile, Colombia's Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez said a suspect had been arrested in the shooting and that authorities were investigating whether others were involved. Sanchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated. The government is offering some $730,000 as a reward for information in the case.

Colombia's presidency issued a statement saying the government "categorically and forcefully" rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events that took place. Leftist President Gustavo Petro sympathised with the senator's family in a message on X, saying, "I don't know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland."

Petro later said in a speech on Saturday night that the person arrested was a minor and that the investigation would focus on finding who had ordered the attack. "For now there is nothing more than hypothesis," Petro said, adding that failures in security protocols would also be looked into.