The head of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group on Saturday said that the organization had made a “mistake” when it abducted the father of Liverpool’s Luis Diaz last week, and vowed to work toward his release.
Diaz’s parents were abducted in their hometown of Barrancas near the Venezuelan border on Saturday last week, but his mother was rescued hours later.
Authorities have blamed the kidnapping on an ELN unit and have launched a massive search for Diaz’s father, Luis Manuel Diaz.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“The retention of Luis Diaz’s father by the Northern War Front was a mistake,” ELN commander Antonio Garcia, wrote on his Telegram channel.
“Lucho is a symbol of Colombia — that is how we in the ELN feel about him,” he added, using the nickname of the 26-year-old Diaz, who has made 11 appearances this season for Liverpool and scored three goals.
The incident has threatened to derail high-stakes peace negotiations between the rebel group and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, taking place amid a six-month ceasefire.
In his Telegram post on Saturday, Garcia said that ELN’s central command was overseeing efforts to set the soccer player’s father free and had instructed its units to cooperate.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
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