Liverpool star, Luiz Díaz’s father has been freed almost two weeks of being abducted by Colombia’s ELN guerrilla group according to live TV footage from the South American country.
After being handed over by the rebels to a humanitarian mission, Luis Manuel Diaz arrived by helicopter in the northeastern city of Valledupar, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) from his hometown of Barrancas where he was abducted with his wife on October 28. She was rescued the same day.
“Long live Freedom and Peace,” President Gustavo Petro wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the release.
The Bishops Conference of Colombia, involved in negotiating the handover, released a photograph of Diaz in a wooded area with a woman taking his vital signs.
Diaz’s father and mother Cilenis Marulanda were abducted by armed men on motorcycles at a gas station in their hometown.
Recall that Marulanda was rescued hours later and a massive search operation by ground and air was launched for her husband, with more than 250 soldiers involved.
The ELN, which is in peace negotiations with Petro’s government, later acknowledged one of its units was behind the kidnapping, which it described as a “mistake.”
On Sunday, Diaz begged the ELN to free his father.
“I ask the ELN for the prompt release of my father, and I ask international organizations to intercede for his freedom,” Diaz said on X.
“Every second, every minute our anguish grows,” the young footballer added.