María Carolina Hoyos Turbay: “I’m just hoping for a miracle: that my brother walks out of the hospital with his children.”

María Carolina Hoyos Turbay (Bogotá, 52 years old) has experienced violence in Colombia like few others. Orphaned by her mother since 1991, when journalist Diana Turbay was murdered by Pablo Escobar, three weeks ago she faced an attack on her brother, Miguel Uribe Turbay, an opposition presidential candidate who has been fighting for his life ever since. The director of the Fundación Solidaridad por Colombia has practically moved to the Fundación Santa Fe, the hospital in northern Bogotá where supporters of the senator have created an altar to pray for his health. She meets with EL PAÍS in a café at the clinic on Friday afternoon, while her brother undergoes surgery for the fourth time. Just a few hours later, the grandmother of both, who founded the organization, Nidia Quintero, will be hospitalized there for a respiratory issue.

Question. How is your brother?

Answer. He is alive, which is significant: Dr. Fernando Hakim told me that 98% of people with my brother’s injury die. He is a warrior fighting, full of will to live. Right now [on Friday afternoon] he is undergoing surgery. They are putting a brace on his leg because one of two bullets shattered the bone; they are reconstructing part of his scalp and draining some of the edema in his head. We’ve been at it for three weeks, and these are things that, according to the doctors, usually happen after three months. He is making great progress.

Q. So he is progressing.

A. Yes, really the bullet in Miguel’s head did a lot of damage and could have done much more. That’s why I truly believe that from the very first moment, there has been a miracle.

Q. I understand that having medical assistance so quickly saved his life…

A. Everything has helped him. First, his attacker was below him. What I understood from the experts is that if he had been at the same height, the bullet would have done much more damage. Entering from below allowed it to lodge in a less harmful external area of his skull, colloquially speaking. Then the ambulance arrived quickly to transport him to a medical center. Furthermore, even though it was a Saturday afternoon, the specialists he needed, like a neurosurgeon, were available. And there was the blood he required, even though my brother has a rare blood type. After that, they managed to bring him here, where Dr. Hakim’s team, with the best doctors and equipment, takes care of him. Lastly, he hasn’t lived an excessive lifestyle; he has taken care of himself, exercised, and had faith that surely keeps him strong.

Q. How have you lived these three weeks?

A. They have been the worst days of my life. For my family, this is doubly painful because the war has knocked on our door more than once. After my mother’s murder, my soul became much more exposed to both the good and the bad, to the little details… and now I’m facing things I never imagined having to relive. Since the attack, I’ve seen many photos of my mom, my brother, all three of us together. And I think: “She is dead, he is almost dead, and I am alone.” I have Diana in my head and in my soul. I’ve never dreamed of her as much as I have in these days, and I am absolutely convinced that she has been working harder since she died. I know that mothers, wherever we are and however we are, will intercede for our children. I am sure my mom is attached to my brother’s stretcher, holding his hand, and she won’t leave until the miracle is complete.

Q. It has been repeated that the attack brings back the worst moments of violence from 30 years ago, including your mother’s murder; do you feel the same?

A. I don’t know. What I do know is that I have been taken back to my worst moment, to when I was 17 and she was kidnapped and at 18, when she was killed. I emotionally returned to that. Every cell in my body hurts. I have stayed strong, with a lot of faith, because I am a believer, but also because I have realized the solidarity of the people. It is incredible to see people praying outside here, at the altar for my brother, no matter the hour. I have come out at 3 AM, at 1 PM, and there is always someone praying. And having lived this tragedy before has helped me. It is a terrible blessing.

Q. First it was your mother, now your brother…

A. It’s as if Miguel were my son. I remember perfectly the day I went to the lab with my mom for the pregnancy test. I was 13, 14 when he was born. I accompanied my mom throughout the pregnancy and traded my dolls—I still played with them—for Miguel. I have been maternal since I was little, and it was exciting for me to help my mom have her baby. I chose the outfit for his first day, I dreamed about carrying him, bathing him, changing his diaper. It was wonderful. But it was also painful because when our mom is killed, he goes with his dad and I with mine. I lost my mom, but also my brother and my child. Thankfully my grandmother Nidia ensured that the relationship remained, and we spent Christmas, birthdays, Mother’s Day together… We never lost contact, but the moment of goodbye was absolutely terrifying. It broke me completely.

Q. How are the children in the family now? Miguel’s kids, yours…

A. We have wonderful children. They have not lost faith and have been a support. The three daughters of María Claudia [Miguel’s wife] have played a fundamental role. They are Miguel’s princesses, practically his daughters, and they have surrounded their mom with love and supported Miguel. Then there are my two children, who have been very close to Miguel. They chose to go to the same school as him because it was Uncle Miguel’s school, they are chess players like Uncle Miguel, and they joined the band because Uncle Miguel was the lead drummer. Now they are victims of violence, at the same age I was when violence first struck me, and they give me energy and optimism.

We are all very shaken because we all have a close relationship with Miguel. I have told my children that although we don’t understand it now, after this horrible event we will enter a process that will make us better people. I’m not saying that we were given this as a lesson, but everything that happens to us has to be.

Q. You speak from experience…

A. There is something that is terrifying, but it is true: I was trained by Pablo Escobar. He taught me about pain, resilience, and survival.

Q. Miguel is a presidential candidate; how have you felt about the political reaction to the attack?

A. I don’t know… my situation demands 100% of my neurons and 100% of my heart in his recovery. That’s where I’ve been, that is my universe.

Q. Have you participated in the family’s lawyer’s complaint against President Gustavo Petro?

A. No, I am only focused on our process to understand how we transform this nightmare into a miracle. I concentrate on that…

Q. And in the criminal investigation?

A. Not either. My life is focused on this and also on celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Foundation, and I am fulfilling my duty to work from the clinic. Thankfully, I have a wonderful team. That is enough for me to survive this nightmare.

Q. Which has already lasted three weeks…

A. Yes, I have been here since Sunday the 8th in the afternoon. I was in Spain [when the attack happened], having just finished the Camino de Santiago when my children told me. I took the first flight I could.

Q. You speak of hoping for a miracle; what would that be?

A. Everything we mentioned earlier has already been part of the miracle, which will be solidified when my brother comes out well. In my menu of possibilities, there is only one: that my brother leaves the hospital walking with his children. I wish it were today, right now. I’m so impatient that I am now asking for a lot of patience.