By EFE
One of the guerrilla fronts of the National Liberation Army (ELN) confirmed this Friday that it kidnapped the father of Colombian soccer player Luis DíazLiverpool forward, and said that he intends to release him.
In a statement released today, the Northern War Front of the ELN suggests that when the kidnapping was committed last Saturday, the members of that group did not know that the kidnapped person was the soccer player’s father.
“The Northern War Front has commands with economic missions and one of them carried out a deprivation of liberty, “That when it is reported and verified that it is Lucho Díaz’s father, his release is guided because he is a relative of the great athlete that all Colombians love,” he points out.
The statement indicates that “from now on his release process begins” and emphasizes that he wants to “avoid any incident” surrounding this kidnapping.
The head of the Government delegation in the peace talks with that guerrilla, Otty Patiño, reported on Thursday that the kidnapping of Díaz and Cilenis Marulanda, parents of the Colombian winger, committed last Saturday in the town of Barrancas, in the Caribbean department of La Guajira, when they were traveling in their vehicle, “it was committed by a unit belonging to the ELN.”
Marulanda was released hours later, although the guerrillas are holding the player’s father hostage.
Since the kidnapping became known, the clamor of Colombians for their freedom has grown, as has the condemnation of the ELN. for persisting in this crime.
That same Saturday, the Police and Military Forces launched a broad search operation by land and air in the Barrancas area, bordering Venezuela, in which at least 250 men participated.
The Colombian people clamor for the release of Luis Díaz’s parents
The clamor of Colombians for the freedom of the father of soccer player Luis Díaz, Liverpool forward, grew this Friday, a day after it was learned that his kidnapping was carried out by the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN), with which the Government has a peace negotiation.
The petitions demanding the release of Luis Manuel Díaz were felt in several scenarios one week after the kidnapping in Barrancas, a town in the department of La Guajira and on the border with Venezuela.
The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, assured this Friday in Washington that this kidnapping by the ELN is “an act that goes against the peace process itself.”
“I have to express my deepest rejection not only for having kidnapped Luis’s father, but because in the development of events, (the ELN) has not been able to free him,” he said in statements to journalists in Washington.
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