The Colombian government announced that Luis Díaz's father had been kidnapped by a terrorist group.
The Liverpool star's parents were both kidnapped at a gas station last Saturday, but his mother was released the same day. His father remains missing, while a large-scale search has been launched in the northern region of La Guajira.
A force of more than 200 members of Colombia's security services are taking part in the search, and the police are offering a reward of £39,000 for information.
A new update was provided on Thursday in which the Colombian government announced that the criminal group the National Liberation Army (ELN) was behind the kidnapping. The government learned of this news during peace talks with the group.
Otty Patino represented the government in these negotiations and confirmed that the ELN had admitted its responsibility for these kidnappings.
"Today we officially learned that the kidnapping was carried out on October 28 in Barrancas, La Guajira region, in which Luis Manuel Díaz and Cilenis Marulanda, father and mother of football player Luis Fernando, were victims, carried out by a unit belonging to this organization, ELN", we can read in the press release from Patino. “
Although Ms. Marulanda was released a few hours later, the player's father was kidnapped for five days. As the National Government's delegation to the peace negotiations with the ELN, we express our full solidarity with Luis Díaz, his family, the entire country, and the millions of supporters.
Support players around the world. "We demand that the ELN immediately release Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz, and we remind him that he is solely responsible for ensuring his life and integrity.
We remind the ELN that kidnapping is a criminal act, contrary to international humanitarian law and it The task of this country in the development of the current peace process is not only to stop its implementation but to eliminate it forever.
"As part of the process of developing a ceasefire agreement, our delegation will present this case to the existing monitoring and verification mechanism and will take all necessary actions for its immediate release. immediately and ensure Mr. Diaz's life and integrity.
Protest were held for the captured father of Luiz Diaz
"The ELN is a left-wing guerrilla group considered terrorist by both the United States and the European Union.
The group has a Marxist-Leninist ideology and was founded in 1964 by radical Catholics inspired by the Cuban communist revolution.
They declared a unilateral ceasefire during the coronavirus outbreak, after which peace talks began between them and the Colombian government. They were accused of bombings and kidnappings as part of a campaign against the Colombian state.