Colombia Presidential Campaign Staffers Killed Amid Rising Violence

The Killings

Two presidential campaign staffers have been killed in Colombia just two weeks before the South American country heads to the polls.

The killings were announced by right-wing presidential candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who said gunmen on motorbikes shot the victims in the central department of Meta on Friday night.

Identifying the Victims

The citizens’ rights ombudsman for Colombia identified the slain men as Rogers Mauricio Devia Escoba, a former mayor for the city of Cubarral, and his adviser Eder Fabian Cardona Lopez.

The Impact on the Election

While the attacks remain under investigation, the ombudsman warned that they could affect the “exercise of political rights and democratic participation” in the upcoming election on May 31.

“Violence, threats, and any form of intimidation undermine public debate, deepen risks for political and social leaderships, and weaken democratic coexistence,” the office said in a statement.

The Presidential Race

The frontrunner in the presidential race, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda, has promised to continue the course charted by Gustavo Petro, who has championed a negotiated solution to Colombia’s armed conflict.

De la Espriella, by contrast, has moulded himself in the likeness of populist right-wing leaders like El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Argentina’s Javier Milei.

Polls show him polling in second with more than 20 percent of voter support, followed by centre-right Senator Paloma Valencia.

Cepeda, meanwhile, is going into the first round of voting with between 37 and 40 percent support. A total of 14 candidates were registered for the presidential race as of March.

Rising Violence and Threats

At least three candidates have reported receiving death threats. The frontrunners all travel with heavy security.

Last year, Cepeda’s vice presidential running mate, Indigenous activist and state senator Aida Quilcue, was briefly kidnapped by a rebel group that broke away from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Miguel Uribe, a senator and presidential hopeful, was also shot during a June 2025 rally in Bogota. He died from his wound two months later, in August.