The guerrilla group holding Liverpool star Luis Diaz’s father hostage has demanded “security guarantees” in exchange for his release.
The National Liberation Army (ELN) said the ongoing military and police search “will delay the release and increase the risks”, Colombian media reported.
Luis Manuel Diaz was kidnapped at gunpoint along with his wife in Barrancas, Colombia, on October 28. However, the wife was later released.
According to a report published by BBC News, the left-wing ELN said it understood his family’s anguish in its first official statement since promising the world nearly four days ago that it had started securing Luis Manuel Diaz’s release.
Diaz made an emotional plea for his father to be freed after scoring against Luton on Sunday.
But in its response to that plea, the ELN accused the Colombian government of complicating things with the reaction triggered by the kidnapping nine days ago when it swamped areas like the Perija Mountains near Barrancas in the Diaz family’s home region of La Guajira with elite police and soldiers.
The ELN, which says a regional unit called the Northern War Front kidnapped Luis Manuel from his home town of Barrancas last Saturday afternoon, has issued a statement signed by the unit’s leader, Commander Jose Manuel Martinez Quiroz.
It said: “On November 2, we informed the country of the decision to release Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz, father of the player Luis Díaz. From that date, we began the process to accomplish this as soon as possible. We are making efforts to avoid incidents with government forces.
“The area is still militarised, they are carrying out flyovers, disembarking troops, broadcasting, and offering rewards as part of an intense search operation. This situation is not allowing for the execution of the release plan quickly and safely, where Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz is not at risk.
“If operations continue in the area, they will delay the release and increase the risks. We understand the anguish of the Díaz Marulanda family, to whom we say that we will keep our word to release him unilaterally, as soon as we have security guarantees for the development of the liberation operation.”
The statement from ELN came after Diaz made a plea for his father to be released after he scored a dramatic equaliser against Luton in his first game since the kidnapping.
Diaz lifted his shirt to reveal a message of “Freedom for papa” before releasing a statement of his own.
