Between tears, Luis Manuel Diaz, father of Liverpool striker Luis Diaz, on Friday recounted how he was made to walk “too much” with little sleep in the nearly two weeks he was held hostage in a mountainous area of Colombia by members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group.
Luis Manuel Diaz, finally liberated on Thursday after calls from around the world for his freedom, told reporters at his home in the country’s north he went through a “very difficult” time, surviving “almost 12 days without sleep.”
Luis Manuel Diaz’s wife Cilenis Marulanda, who was taken by the same ELN kidnappers on Oct. 28 but rescued hours later, rubbed her husband’s back lovingly as he broke down in tears mid-statement.
Photo: AFP
Behind the pair hung a string of golden balloons spelling out “Welcome Mane,” his nickname, in Spanish.
Luis Manuel Diaz walked with obvious difficulty as he arrived for the news conference, and had to be helped up from his chair afterward and led away.
He told reporters that he was not maltreated by his captors.
“I had to walk too much, up and down many mountains, trying to stay safe so that... I could return home,” said the 56-year-old, who is no stranger to the mountainous region he has explored since a child.
Yet “this was a different story,” he said. “I would not want anyone to be in that mountain in the situation I was in.”
Luis Diaz’s parents were abducted by armed men on motorcycles at a gas station in Barrancas, a town near Colombia’s border with Venezuela.
Marulanda was rescued hours later and a massive search operation by ground and air was launched for her husband, with more than 250 soldiers involved.
The ELN, which is in peace negotiations with the government and is party to a six-month ceasefire that entered into force in August, described the kidnapping by one of its units as a “mistake.”
On Thursday, after days of intense negotiations, the rebels handed Luis Manuel Diaz over to humanitarian workers at an undisclosed location in the Serrania del Perija mountain range, from where he was flown by helicopter to the city of Valledupar, about 90km from his hometown.
Hours later, he arrived by car to neighbors celebrating with drums and trumpet music outside his home, which was under police guard.
On Friday, Luis Manuel Diaz told reporters he hoped his release was a step toward “peace in Colombia, and so that everyone, and all the hostages, will have a chance to be free.”
The abduction threatened to derail high-stakes peace negotiations between the ELN and the government of Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
Petro took office in August last year with the stated goal of achieving “total peace” in a country ravaged by decades of fighting between the security forces, leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.
More than 38,000 people have been kidnapped in Colombia over the years, mainly by armed groups raising funds with ransom money.
The ELN still holds about 30 hostages, according to official data.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS