Liverpool’s Luis Diaz had a brief moment of happiness on Sunday as the winger scored a late equaliser to rescue a point for Liverpool away to Luton Town but the Colombian star is still waiting for his father to be released by his kidnappers.
It has been over a week since both the Liverpool star’s parents were kidnapped in the town of Barrancas and Diaz is yet to see his father released by the National Liberation Army (ELN).
His mother was found shortly after the crime was committed and the group have already said that they will release his father as soon as possible. The ELN have now put out a statement addressing the reasons why he hasn’t been let go yet, stating that they want guarantees from the Colombian government before they do so.
ELN release a statement regarding the father of Luis Diaz
The commander of ELN, Jose Manuel Martinez Quiroz, has signed off on a statement addressing the release of Diaz’s father. It said that they will release the man but want to avoid incidents with government forces.
The statement read via The Athletic: “On November 2, we informed the country of the decision to release Luis Manuel Díaz. From that date, we began the process to accomplish this as soon as possible. We are making efforts to avoid incidents with government forces.
“The area is still militarised. They are carrying out flyovers, disembarking troops, broadcasting and offering rewards as part of an intense search operation. This situation is not allowing for the execution of the release plan quickly and safely, where Luis Manuel Diaz is not at risk.
“If operations continue in the area, they will delay the release and increase the risks. We understand the anguish of the Diaz Marulanda family, to whom we say that we will keep our word to release him unilaterally, as soon as we have security guarantees for the development of the liberation operation.”