BOGOTA, Nov 17 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The head of the Colombian Government delegation in the peace talks with ELN, Otty Patiño, requested on Thursday an urgent meeting with Pablo Beltran, head of the guerrilla delegation.
“National and international public opinion expressed their rejection of Mr. Luis Manuel Diaz’s abduction, and of the hostages kept by the ELN. In addition to your unacceptable excuses to continue kidnapping; thus, there’s a demanding urge for an extraordinary meeting between the heads of the two delegations before the next cycle”, he argued in a letter.
On Nov 9, after Diaz’s release, the Colombian Government delegation asked that each person held captive by this organization be released immediately in conditions of safety and dignity.
In a statement to the public opinion, the governmental representation affirmed that this demand will be made in the next meeting with the National Liberation Army (ELN) delegation.
“We´re happy to record the release of Mr. Luis Manuel Diaz. Moreover, he has been able to return safe and sound to the bosom of his family and community. We hope that he will soon recover his peace of mind, altered by an incident that should never have happened,” he concluded.
Luis Manuel Díaz, the father of Colombian football star Luis Diaz, was held captive for 12 days in a mountainous region by the ELN guerrilla group. He was reunited with his family on Thursday Nov 9.
The ELN said it had kidnapped the 58-year-old and his wife for ransom.
The group quickly released his wife, Cilenis Marulanda, as police closed in but led the amateur football coach into the nearby mountains at gunpoint.
The ELN leader described the abduction of the popular coach as a “mistake” but has insisted that kidnappings for ransom are not a breach of the ceasefire it signed earlier this year.
The guerrilla group released Luis Manuel Díaz to United Nations and Catholic Church officials. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA