Luis Díaz’s father released by Colombian guerrilla group

The father of Liverpool soccer star Luis Díaz, who was kidnapped by a Colombian guerrilla group last month, was released on Thursday and handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the Catholic Church in Valledupar, Colombia, according to Colombia’s Episcopal Conference.

“We thank God for the release of Mr. Luis Díaz!” the conference posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“With him already are Mons. Francisco Ceballos, bishop of Riohacha, and Mons. Héctor Henao, delegate for Church-State relations, who formed the humanitarian commission in charge of facilitating his release.”

Ceballos was on board a UN-funded helicopter that picked up Díaz’s father, Luis Manuel Díaz, from a forest area along the Colombian border with Venezuela.

The UN said its political mission in Colombia worked closely with the Colombian government, the Catholic Church and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group to release Díaz Sr.

“We were involved in his handing over from the ELN into his freedom,” UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said following a question from CNN’s Caitlin Hu. “We, along with the church, were in charge of the actual operations, so we used our helicopters, our planes.”

Source CNN