Luis Manuel Díaz, the father of Liverpool footballer Luis Díaz, has given details of his captivity at the hands of Colombian guerrillas on the Venezuela border. He was held for nearly two weeks by the National Liberation Army (ELN), before being released on 9 November. Although his wife was kidnapped at the same time, Diaz denied a ransom was ever paid for their release. Diaz’s footballer son had helped publicise the case whilst appealing for his father’s release.
Díaz told journalists contemporary conditions were hard, including “a lot of horseback riding, really hard, a lot of mountains, a lot of rain, too many insects.” He lost a lot of weight and went almost two weeks without proper rest. He was still unsure why he had been taken, as the ELN had told him he had no enemies.
Police arrested four individuals suspected of being behind the kidnapping. Local drug-trafficking group Los Primos, also known as “The Cousins”, are accused of being responsible. Diaz declined to leave Barrancas despite his ordeal, and called for peaceful solutions to Colombia’s six decades-plus internal conflict.
The ELN was set up by radical clergy in 1964, and has around 2,500 members running the group’s drug-trafficking rackets and extortion. Diaz’s kidnapping had the potential to derail peace negotiations between the group and the government but did not do so.
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