Last Updated: November 11, 2023, 01:30 IST
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The father of Liverpool soccer participant Luis Diaz mentioned on Friday he’ll hold dwelling in Colombia after enduring almost two weeks of captivity by guerrillas, marked by sleepless nights and exhausting days of horseback driving by way of the mountains.
BOGOTA: The father of Liverpool soccer participant Luis Diaz mentioned on Friday he’ll hold dwelling in Colombia after enduring almost two weeks of captivity by guerrillas, marked by sleepless nights and exhausting days of horseback driving by way of the mountains.
Luis Manuel Diaz, 58, was launched on Thursday by the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) 12 days after he was taken hostage on Oct. 28 in Barrancas, a rural municipality the place he lives within the northern province of La Guajira.
Diaz’s seize stoked criticism of ongoing peace talks between the ELN and the federal government of leftist President Gustavo Petro, who’s attempting to place an finish to Colombia’s six-decade inner battle that has left greater than 450,000 useless.
The authorities and the ELN started a six-month ceasefire in August.
“My aspirations are to continue in my town because I have my entire family in my town,” Diaz mentioned at a press convention.
“The government has given me impressively strong and great support. I trust and have faith that it will provide me security to be in Barrancas.”
The kidnapping underscored the dearth of management that the ELN’s high brass exerts over their rank and file, in keeping with analysts and safety sources.
Diaz on Friday provided particulars of his captivity, throughout which his kidnappers suggested him to stay calm, he mentioned.
“A lot of quite difficult horseback riding, lots of mountains, rain,” Diaz mentioned, recalling “almost 12 days without sleep.”
“Even though the treatment was good, I didn’t feel very comfortable,” he mentioned.
The ELN, made up of 5,800 members, together with some 2,800 combatants, is taken into account a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
The insurgent group is accused of financing itself by way of kidnapping, along with drug trafficking, unlawful mining and extortion.
On Friday, the group’s high commander, Antonio Garcia, mentioned on social media that the peace negotiations didn’t prohibit kidnappings as a method of financing.
(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed – Reuters)
