Members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) handed Luis Díaz Sr over to members of the Catholic church and the UN on Thursday afternoon, ending almost two weeks of international speculation over his whereabouts and growing concern for his safety.
Armed men abducted Díaz Sr and his wife on 28 October in their home town of Barrancas in Colombia’s northern La Guajira state. Though Cilenis Marulanda, the footballer’s mother, was freed hours later, Díaz Sr was smuggled away on a motorbike.
Local reports alleged that he had been abducted by local mafia but the true identity of his captors was revealed on 2 November when a team of government officials negotiating with armed groups said the ELN, the country’s oldest active guerrilla group, held him hostage.
Local television channels showed Díaz Sr at an airstrip in the city of Valledupar in Colombia’s Cesar province on Thursday after he descended from a helicopter.
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