Izuchukwu Okosi
Liverpool forward Luis Diaz on Sunday evening passionately pleaded with the kidnappers of his father to free him and end the anguish faced by the family.
Both of Díaz’s parents were seized at gunpoint in his hometown of Barrancas by left-wing guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on 28 October.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelWhile his mother was found, his father is still missing.
Díaz came off the substitute bench in the Reds’ clash with Luton Town and scored an equaliser to make the score 1-1 when it seemed as though there would be an upset of some sorts.
After heading home a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross home, Diaz lifted his jersey to reveal a Spanish sentence that translated to saying: “freedom for papa.”
The emotional message got the opposition fans and players sympathetic of the incident.
“Every second, every minute our anxiety grows,” Díaz, 26, said in a statement released shortly after the match in England’s Premier League.
“My mother, my brothers and I are desperate, anxious and have no words to describe what we are feeling. This suffering will only end when we have him home with us.
“I beg that they free him immediately, respecting his integrity and ending this painful wait. In the name of love and compassion we ask they reconsider their actions and allow us to have him back,” the player pleaded.
Both of Díaz’s parents were seized at gunpoint in his hometown of Barrancas by left-wing guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on 28 October.
The couple was accosted by the gunmen as they had stopped at a petrol station in Barrancas, in the northern province of La Guajira.
The kidnappers later abandoned Luis Díaz’s mother in a car as police closed in, but dragged away his father.
The ELN is Colombia’s main remaining active guerrilla group. It has been fighting the state since 1964 and has an estimated 2,500 members.
It is most active in the border region with Venezuela, where Luis Manuel Díaz and his wife Cilenis Marulanda live.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
