The Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe has been shot in Bogotá, with reports he was taken to hospital in a serious condition.

The 39-year-old senator, who is running for the presidency in 2026, is a member of the opposition conservative Democratic Centre party founded by the former president Alvaro Uribe. The two men are not related.

According to the party’s statement condemning the attack, the senator was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood in the capital on Saturday when “armed subjects shot him in the back”.

The party described the attack as serious, but did not disclose further details on Uribe’s condition.

The defence minister, Pedro Sánchez, said a suspect had been arrested in the shooting and authorities were investigating whether others were involved. Sánchez said he had visited the hospital where Uribe was being treated.

Colombia’s presidency issued a statement saying the government “categorically and forcefully” rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation.

Uribe is from a prominent family with links to the country’s Liberal party. His father was a businessman and union leader. 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.

The president, Gustavo Petro, sympathised with the senator’s family, posting online: “I don’t know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a homeland.”