Silenis Marulanda marches with residents of Barrancas for the release of her husband Luis Manuel Díaz on October 31st. Carrillo Fonseca (EFE)
The National Liberation Army (ELN) assured in a statement released on Friday that it has already begun the process to release the father of football player Luis Díaz, kidnapped last Saturday in Barrancas (La Guajira). “From now on, your liberation process begins and we want to avoid any incident,” said a text on Thursday signed by José Manuel Martínez, the commander of the Northern War Front. The guerrilla also points out that the command in charge is dedicated to “economic missions” and that those responsible did not know that the victim was the athlete’s father. “If it turns out that he is the father of Lucho Díaz, his release will be ordered since he is a relative of the great athlete that all Colombians love,” the letter continued.
The statement in which the ELN claims responsibility for the kidnapping of Luis Manuel Díaz on November 3rd.
The peace delegation of Gustavo Petro’s government had already declared on Thursday that the ELN was behind the kidnapping. “We demand the immediate release of Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz by the ELN and remind him that it is solely his responsibility to guarantee his life and his integrity,” emphasized Otty Patiño, chief executive negotiator. “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,” said he added.
The kidnapping occurred as the victim and his wife Cilenis Marulanda were leaving a gas station in Barrancas. After several hours of confusion, the army and police carried out a major operation in this area of La Guajira, a poor region on the Caribbean Sea. This immediacy of response meant that the kidnappers, faced with the danger of being captured, had to free the mother. But Mane, the father, was unlucky and disappeared.
Since then, government and opposition politicians have highlighted the potential impact of this action on the peace process. On Thursday, President Gustavo Petro sent Patiño to Cuba to negotiate the release with the armed group’s leadership. The next day he regretted that the guerrillas had not yet freed Mane. “The ELN is now responsible for the life of Luis Díaz’s father. “He has committed an act that contradicts the peace process itself,” he said from Washington, where he is attending a meeting of the continent’s leaders.
The ELN is a federated guerrilla and the incident casts a shadow over the control the high command has over the commandos. There is currently a six-month bilateral ceasefire that began on August 3 and will remain in effect until next year. However, there are conflicting interpretations about the scope of the agreement. ELN chief negotiator Pablo Beltrán said in June that “withholdings” and “taxes” – kidnappings and extortions – were not part of it. For its part, the government delegation said in its statement on Thursday that it would refer this case to the ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism.
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