Luis Díaz’s father released by Colombian guerrilla group after 13 days as hostage

The father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz has been freed after being held for 13 days in captivity by a guerrilla group in Colombia.

Members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) handed Luis Díaz Sr over to members of the Catholic church and the UN on Thursday afternoon, ending almost two weeks of international speculation over his whereabouts and growing concern for his safety.

Díaz and his wife were abducted on 28 October by armed men while in their home town of Barrancas in Colombia’s northern La Guajira state. Though Cilenis Marulanda was freed hours later, Luis Díaz Sr was smuggled away on a motorbike.

Local reports alleged that Díaz had been abducted by local mafia but the true identity of his captors was revealed on 2 November when a team of government officials negotiating with armed groups said the ELN, the country’s oldest active guerrilla group, held Díaz hostage.

Local television channels showed Díaz at an airstrip in the city of Valledupar in Colombia’s Cesar province on Thursday after he descended from a helicopter.

The government’s negotiating delegation at peace talks with ELN said in a statement it celebrated the liberation and that Díaz was safe and sound, but that the kidnapping “should never have happened”.

“The current process with the ELN has advanced like no other until today. Regardless, our delegation considers that the kidnapping of Luis Manuel Díaz has placed our dialogue in a critical situation and because of it, the time has come to take decisions to eliminate kidnapping,” the statement said.

ELN leaders pledged the same day to free the 56-year-old, raising hopes of his imminent release, but Díaz’s family, Colombians and football fans across the world were left waiting anxiously for news of his freedom for almost another week.

Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, earlier criticised the armed rebels for putting Díaz’s life in unnecessary danger and harming peace negotiations with the government.

“There is a willingness expressed by the [ELN’s leadership] to release him as soon as possible but the hours pass and, as time passes, the circumstances in which Mr Diaz is in become very dangerous,” Petro told journalists in Washington DC last Friday.

Díaz’s family demanded proof this week that the 56-year-old was still alive as fears grew for his safety.

The ELN has blamed the Colombian military – which has been combing a mountain range bordering Venezuela for signs of Diaz’s whereabouts – for the delays.

It is not yet clear who brokered Diaz Sr’s freedom and whether the armed rebels received payment in exchange for freeing the football star’s father.

Díaz joined Liverpool from Porto for €40m in January 2022, quickly proving himself one of the club’s most talented players and the Colombian national team’s brightest footballing star. The 26-year-old was absent from Liverpool’s squad against Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest but returned to play Luton on Sunday, scoring a last-minute equaliser.

The ELN’s involvement in Díaz’s capture has cast the world’s eyes on the human rights violations committed by the guerrillas and threatens to derail peace negotiations with armed groups in Colombia. The ELN agreed to a six-month ceasefire with the government in June this year and pledged not to take civilians hostage.

“The kidnapping of the parents of one of Colombia’s soccer stars and most beloved public figures undermines credibility in the peace process, undermines the credibility of the ELN and worsens the government’s ability to sell Total Peace as a credible alternative to Colombia’s long history of violence and conflict,” said Sergio Guzmán, Director of Colombia Risk Analysis.