Colombian police have reported that the father of Liverpool footballer Luis Daz has been rescued from his captors.
Valledupar, in Colombia, will receive Luis Manuel Diaz first, according to LA FM, a radio station in that country. Diaz’s hometown of Barrancas, where he and his wife were abducted last month, will subsequently receive him back.
This week, Diaz Sr.’s kidnapping from a Barrancas gas station on October 28 was linked to the terrorist organization Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional (ELN), based in Colombia. Diaz’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was also taken hostage in the same incident, but she was freed the following day, leaving her partner in captivity.
But the pair is about to get back together, almost a week after the Colombian military began a “major search” for Diaz’s father. That is, if recent events in Venezuela and Colombia are any indication.
The ELN has maintained communication with authorities since the revelation of their involvement in the kidnapping. This involves correspondence with President Gustavo Petro of Colombia, even though at first it was thought that a failure in the communications would imperil all chance of recovery.
Over the weekend, Diaz made a moving return to the Liverpool club, sparking rumors that he would be let go. When the winger came off the bench to score a crucial equalizer against Luton Town, he revealed a placard that said, “Libertad Para Papa (Freedom for Papa).”
