The National Liberation Army (ELN) assured in a statement on Sunday evening that it has not yet released the father of Luis Díaz, as the army continues to carry out operations in the area where it kidnapped him. “The area remains militarized, overflights are carried out, troops are landed, peritoneum, rewards are offered and an intensive rake operation is carried out. This situation does not allow the rapid and safe implementation of the liberation plan, since Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz is not at risk,” explained the Guerrilla fighters. He also warned: “If operations continue in the region, they will delay release and increase risks.”
At around noon this Monday, the army began withdrawing troops from the border with Venezuela, as requested by the armed group. Colonel Giovanni Montañez, spokesman for the armed forces, confirmed this in a statement. “By order of the General Command of the Armed Forces, the army troops involved in the search operation for Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz are ordered to reposition themselves to ensure the execution of this kidnapping. Security and stability operations continue to be carried out in the rest of the jurisdiction,” he said in a video shared with several media outlets. As Defense Minister Iván Velásquez reported last Thursday, Díaz would be in the Serranía del Perijá, a foothills of the Andes that divide Colombia and neighboring Venezuela.
ELN statement dated November 5, 2023.
Last Friday, just hours after President Gustavo Petro declared that the ELN had committed “an act contrary to the peace process itself,” the armed group assured that it had begun the process for his release. “From now on, your liberation process begins and we want to avoid any incident,” says a text signed by these guerrillas from the Northern War Front. The front stated that the relevant command was in charge of “economic operations” and that the kidnappers did not know that they were kidnapping the father of the famous football player. “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 statement said. However, more than 72 hours later, it remains in the hands of the ELN.
Mane Díaz was kidnapped on October 28th with his wife Cilenis Marulanda at a gas station in Barrancas (La Guajira). The footballer’s mother was released the same day, despite this crime being strongly condemned at national and international levels. But the father did not suffer the same fate. He has now been without freedom for ten days, and neither the government’s efforts nor the calls of his son – who this Sunday issued his own statement calling for his father’s freedom – have had any effect.
“I ask the ELN for the immediate release of my father,” Lucho Díaz wrote in an emotional letter. “Every second, every minute our fear grows; My mother, brothers and I are desperate, desperate and have no words to describe what we feel. This suffering will only end when we have him back home,” pleaded the English Liverpool player. A day earlier he had celebrated a goal in a game against Luton Town. He tearfully showed off a T-shirt he wore under his uniform that read: “Freedom for Dad.”
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The kidnapping has led to an escalation of tensions between the state and the ELN. The situation comes amid parallel negotiations between the government and the various armed groups that remain active in the country as part of the Comprehensive Peace Policy, one of the Petro government’s most emblematic and ambitious projects. These guerrillas are the largest and oldest group of those involved in these discussions. In addition, negotiations with the ELN are the most advanced. A ceasefire came into force in August after eight months of talks and is valid until February.
The kidnapping puts a strain on this agreement and negotiations in general, which is why the head of the government delegation at the negotiating table, Otty Patiño, traveled to Cuba last Wednesday to meet with these guerrilla negotiators. In the following hours, a crisis cabinet was formed in the Nariño Palace, which released a statement in which the armed group called for the immediate release of Mane Díaz. However, the state still couldn’t get it back.
This situation is one of the two serious setbacks that the policy of total peace has suffered in the last week. As the government tries to rescue Díaz’s father, it is in crisis with another armed group involved in the discussions: the FARC dissidents known as the Central General Staff (EMC). This weekend, the EMC released a statement announcing “the suspension of the dialogue process and agenda with the national government,” following a tense tug-of-war over the military’s presence in the town of El Plateado in the Micay River Gorge (Cauca).
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