The news is reportedly very good for Luis Díaz and his family. The father of the Colombian fútbol star, who was kidnapped by Colombian guerrilla group ELN on October 28 was released on Thursday, November 9th, and handed over to representatives of the Catholic Church in Valledupar, Colombia.
The news was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Colombia’s Episcopal Conference. “We thank God for the release of Mr. Luis Díaz! With him are already Mons. Francisco Ceballos, bishop of Riohacha and Mons. Héctor Henao, delegate for Church-State relations, who formed the humanitarian commission in charge of facilitating his release,” the tweet read.
Luis Manuel Díaz and his wife Cilenis Marulanda were both kidnapped in their hometown of Barrancas in northern Colombia almost two weeks ago. Marulanda was rescued later the same day, but Díaz Sr. had proven much harder to locate.
His son had decided to remain in England, as there was a belief his high profile could be detrimental to the investigation. He didn’t play during his team’s October 29th league match, or November 1st EFL Cup game but on Sunday, November 5th he came in from the bench during Liverpool’s 1-1 tie against Luton Town and scored the tying goal for his team, revealing a message that read “Freedom for Dad” in Spanish underneath his team shirt.
Díaz also released a statement that asked ELN for the “release of my dad,” and referenced the fact that “every second, every minute our anguish grows; my mother, my brothers and I are desperate,” while also noting that the difficult moment he was going through was one that “many families in my country are going through.”
At least the Díaz family is sleeping easy tonight. We’ll take the win.