Colombia held a funeral service for murdered presidential candidate Miguel Uribe on Wednesday, with his widow tearfully warning that the country must shake its dark and long history of political violence.

The 39-year-old conservative senator was shot in June while campaigning in the capital, Bogota, and died this week of his injuries.

"Our country is going through the darkest, saddest, and most painful days," Maria Claudia Tarazona told a packed cathedral funeral service as she prepared to bury her husband.

Police have blamed Uribe's murder on dissident left-wing guerrillas. For most Colombians, the assassination represented a shocking spasm of political violence after years of relative peace.

Four presidential candidates were assassinated during the 1980s and 1990s, as cocaine cartels

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