Mural on the facade of the house of Luis Díaz’s paternal grandfather. In the photo you can see Lucho’s father: Luis Manuel Díaz or “el Mane”, in Barrancas, on April 11, 2022. Camilo Rozo
The peace delegation of the government of Gustavo Petro revealed in the dialogues with the ELN this Thursday that the last armed guerrilla in Colombia was responsible for the kidnapping of the parents of the football player Luis Díaz in La Guajira last Saturday, a crime that holds the country in breath. A few hours later it became known that the mother had been released after an intensive police and military manhunt, but the father remained in captivity despite the enormous efforts of the authorities. The delegation calls for the immediate release of the guerrillas, while the news endangers the most advanced dialogue tables within the framework of the total peace policy with various armed groups.
“Today we have official knowledge that the kidnapping on October 28 in Barrancas, La Guajira department, whose victims were Luis Manuel Díaz and Cilenis Marulanda, father and mother of the football player Luis Fernando Díaz Marulanda, was committed by an ELN unit “, says the statement signed by Otty Patiño, head of the government delegation to the negotiations with the National Liberation Army. The delegations announced a six-month ceasefire starting on August 3 and remaining in force until next year.
“We demand the immediate release of Mr. Luís Manuel Díaz by the ELN and remind him that it is solely his responsibility to guarantee his life and his integrity,” said the government delegation’s statement. “We remind the ELN that kidnapping is a criminal practice that violates international humanitarian law and that it is its duty in developing the current peace process not only to stop it but also to eliminate it forever.” it in the statement.
#Release 🚨 | The national government delegation at the peace dialogue table with the National Liberation Army (ELN) informs public opinion that: pic.twitter.com/XPiAMBy0on
— High Commissioner Paz (@ComisionadoPaz) November 2, 2023
The police operation to rescue the father of the English Liverpool attacker, the big star of the Colombian team, is gigantic. The authorities are aware of the bad image that the country conveys with a case that has received worldwide resonance and shows a surprising twist since it involves a guerrilla sitting at a dialogue table. “If true, it would be a violation of the ceasefire agreements. I would not understand how these guerrillas want to throw all the opinion of the country and the world on themselves,” reacted analyst León Valencia. “This is a violation of the ceasefire… of course it jeopardizes the process,” agreed Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco in statements to Blu Radio.
The kidnapping by the ELN was “immensely serious” and “a slap in the face of the armed group itself to the peace process,” said former minister Juan Camilo Restrepo, who served as chief government negotiator during talks with the administration of Juan Manuel Santos . “This is not only a crime by the ELN, it is also a huge political ineptitude,” he said.
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Since the Caribbean department of La Guajira borders Venezuela, authorities have expressed fears that Lucho Díaz’s father has been relocated to the neighboring country, where the ELN also operates. However, according to the newspaper El Tiempo, the guerrillas would coordinate the handover of Mane, as everyone knows him.
For more than half a century, kidnapping has been one of the most condemned crimes in the armed conflict that Colombia is trying to put behind it. After a significant decline compared to the 1990s and early 2000s, the last two years have seen a renewed increase in numbers. According to statistics from the Ministry of Defense, 35 people were kidnapped between January and March 2022, while in the same period this year there were twice as many: 71. The same report shows that 160 people were kidnapped in the whole of 2021 and a year The next number was 222. In the worst case scenario, Colombia reported up to 3,500 kidnappings per year.
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