BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s attorney general on Tuesday said her office had obtained arrest warrants for seven members of a rebel group known as Segunda Marquetalia for the killing of Miguel Uribe, a conservative presidential hopeful who was shot in the head during a rally in Bogota in June 2025.
In a statement, Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo said that Uribe’s killing last year was “the result of a structured criminal operation that involved an urban criminal gang that was hired” by Segunda Marquetalia to kill the senator.
The attorney general said that Uribe’s killing was planned by Kendry Téllez, a member of Segunda Marquetalia who had previously fought for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the guerrilla group that signed a peace deal with Colombia’s government in 2016.
Luciano Marín, a former FARC Commander who abandoned the peace deal and founded the Segunda Marquetalia group in 2018, was also charged with helping to plan the killing, which was carried out by a teenager hired by a gang in Bogota.
Marín, who is more commonly known as Iván Márquez, was last seen in public in 2024, when Segunda Marquetalia and the administration of Colombian President Gustavo Petro launched peace talks.
The negotiations between Marín and the Colombian government were suspended at the end of 2024, following a schism within Segunda Marquetalia.
Prosecutors in Colombia had long hinted that the rebel group was involved in Uribe’s murder.
On Tuesday, officials announced a reward of $1.3 million for information leading to Marín's capture, as well as smaller rewards for information leading to the capture of the other six members of Segunda Marquetalia who were charged with murder.
Uribe was speaking in a park in Bogota, on June 7, 2025 when he was shot several times by a teenager, who fled the scene but was quickly captured by Uribe's bodyguards.
Uribe died two months later from his injuries.
Uribe’s killing marked a low point in Petro’s efforts to reduce crime in Colombia, where drug traffickers and rebel groups are fighting for control of territory abandoned by the FARC following the 2016 peace deal.
The attack on Uribe, a conservative who had promised to take a tougher stance against rebel groups, was the first assassination of a presidential candidate in Colombia in three decades.
Colombia will hold presidential elections in May. If none of the candidates gets more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held in June between the top two contenders.
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FILE - A photo of opposition Sen. and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe is placed at his seat in Congress in Bogota, Colombia, Aug. 11, 2025, after his death more than two months after being shot during a political rally. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico jury found Tuesday that social media conglomerate Meta is harmful to children's mental health and in violation of state consumer protection law.
The landmark decision comes after a nearly seven-week trial. Jurors sided with state prosecutors who argued that Meta — which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — prioritized profits over safety. The jury determined Meta violated parts of the state’s Unfair Practices Act on accusations the company hid what it knew about about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on its platforms and impacts on child mental health.
The jury agreed with allegations that Meta made false or misleading statements and also agreed that Meta engaged in “unconscionable” trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children.
Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million.
Attorneys for Meta said the company discloses risks and makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, while acknowledging that some bad material gets through its safety net.
New Mexico’s case was among the first to reach trial in a wave of litigation involving social media platforms and their impacts on children.
The trial that started Feb. 9. is one of the first in a torrent of lawsuits against Meta and comes as school districts and legislators want more restrictions on the use of smartphones in classrooms.
In a federal court in California, a jury has been sequestered in deliberations for more than a week about whether Meta and YouTube should be liable for harms caused to children on their platforms, in one of three bellwether court cases that could set the course for thousands of similar lawsuits.
In addition, more than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it’s contributing to a mental health crisis among young people by deliberately designing Instagram and Facebook features that are addictive.
New Mexico’s case relied on a state undercover investigation where agents created social media accounts posing as children to document sexual solicitations and Meta’s response.
The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, also says Meta hasn’t fully disclosed or addressed the dangers of social media addiction. Meta hasn’t agreed that social media addiction exists, but executives at trial acknowledged “problematic use” and say they want people to feel good about the time they spend on Meta’s platforms.
“Evidence shows not only that Meta invests in safety because it’s the right thing to do but because it is good for business,” Meta attorney Kevin Huff told jurors in closing arguments. “Meta designs its apps to help people connect with friends and family, not to try to connect predators.”
Tech companies have been protected from liability for material posted on their social media platforms under Section 230, a 30-year-old provision of the U.S. Communications Decency Act, as well as a First Amendment shield.
New Mexico prosecutors say Meta still should be responsible for its role in pushing out that content through complex algorithms that proliferate material that can be harmful for children.
“We know the output is meant to be engagement and time spent for kids,” prosecution attorney Linda Singer said. “That choice that Meta made has profound negative impacts on kids.”
A slated second phase of the trial, possibly in May before a judge with no jury, would determine whether Meta created a public nuisance and may be ordered to change course and pay for remedies.
The New Mexico trial examined a raft of Meta’s internal correspondence and reports related to child safety. Jurors also heard testimony from Meta executives, platform engineers, whistleblowers who left the company, psychiatric experts and tech-safety consultants.
The jury also heard testimony from local public school educators who struggled with disruptions linked to social media, including sextortion schemes targeting children.
“What this case is about is one of the biggest tech companies in the world taking advantage of New Mexico teens,” state Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson told the jury in closing arguments.
The jury was assembled from residents of Santa Fe County, including the politically progressive state capital city.
In reaching a verdict, it considered whether social media users were misled by specific statements about platform safety by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Meta global head of safety Antigone Davis.
In deliberations, the jury used a checklist of allegations from prosecutors that Meta failed to disclose what it knew about problems with enforcing its ban on users under 13, the prevalence of social media content about teen suicide, the role of Meta algorithms in prioritizing sensational or harmful content, and more.
Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid talks with Linda Singer, an attorney representing the plaintiff, and attorney Kevin Huff, representing Meta, during the closing arguments, Monday, March 23, 2026, in state court, in Santa Fe, N.M., in a trial where the social media conglomerate is accused of misleading its users about how safe its platforms are for children. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)
Linda Singer, an attorney representing the plaintiff, makes closing arguments, Monday, March 23, 2026, in state court, in Santa Fe, N.M., in a trial where the social media conglomerate is accused of misleading its users about how safe its platforms are for children. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)
Meta attorney Kevin Huff makes closing arguments, Monday, March 23, 2026, in state court, in Santa Fe, N.M., in a trial where the social media conglomerate is accused of misleading its users about how safe its platforms are for children. (Eddie Moore/The Albuquerque Journal via AP, Pool)
A recording of Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's deposition is played for the jurors on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Santa Fe, N.M. (Jim Weber/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP, Pool)
