ELN leader tries to justify why group kidnapped parents of Luis Diaz
Liverpool star Luis Díaz’s father was rescued on November 9 after being kidnapped by the ELN and held hostage for 12 days Leader of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), the group that kidnapped Luis Díaz’s parents, tried to justify holding the Liverpool star’s father hostage.
Luis Manuel Díaz and Cilenis Marulanda were arrested at gunpoint on October 28 in their hometown of Barrancas.
And while Diaz’s mother was found later that day, Diaz Snr was detained for another 12 days.
Mr.
Diaz was handed over to a delegation of United Nations and Catholic Church officials on November 9, despite the group’s leaders demanding his immediate release.
days earlier.
The ELN has been engaged in peace talks with the Colombian government for nearly 12 months, while it signed a ceasefire earlier this year, which took effect in August.
And ELN leader Antonio Garcia insists the group is not violating that ceasefire by kidnapping people – and trying to justify holding people hostage for ransom makes him “poor”.
“There is no agreement in which the ELN commits to refrain from all financial transactions, including deprivation of liberty for economic reasons,” he wrote in a statement posted on social networks.
Garcia, who previously claimed targeting the Liverpool star’s father was a mistake, also claimed, via the BBC, that the ELN was a “bad organisation” and did not resort to drug dealing to fund yourself.
Instead, the group’s units be ordered to “conduct military operations to raise funds” to finance its operations, he proposed.
to “strangle ELN’s finances”.
A statement released on Thursday by the government delegation holding peace talks with the ELN read: “Current progress with the ELN has progressed unprecedentedly until today.
Regardless, our delegation considers that the kidnapping of Luis Manuel Díaz has placed our dialogue in a critical situation and because of this, the time has come to take the decision to eliminate the kidnapping.
” And – as quoted by the Guardian – Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis said: “The kidnapping of the parents of one of the Colombian football stars and most beloved public figures has undermined the credibility of the peace process, undermined the credibility of the ELN, and worsened the government’s ability to sell all of its assets.
Peace as a credible alternative to a history of violence and Colombia’s long-standing conflict.
