After Soccer Player Luis Diaz's Kidnapped Father was Released the Bishops of Colombia Denounce all Kidnappings



“Kidnapping is a deplorable scourge that hurts the conscience of all Colombians…It must disappear”: Vice President of the CEC. 
The Colombian government says the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebel group has released the father of Liverpool footballer Luis Diaz who was kidnapped nearly on October 28th.‘I beg you to release him’: Luis Diaz told kidnappers. The Liverpool and Colombian national football team striker had implored the kidnappers to release his father. Manuel Diaz’s wife, Cilenis Marulanda, was also taken hostage but was rescued several hours later. The Colombian government had pressured the ELN to release Manuel Diaz, whose kidnapping set back efforts to negotiate a lasting peace with the rebel group. The United Nations and the Catholic Church helped facilitate the handover, and their representatives received Diaz’s father Thursday in the area of the mountain range Serranía del Perijá, where he received primary medical care.
Episcopal Conference of Colombia statement :
 Following the release of Mr. Luis Manuel Díaz, which occurred on the morning of this Thursday, November 9, on behalf of the bishops of Colombia, Monsignor Omar Alberto Sánchez Cubillos, archbishop of Popayán and vice president of the Episcopal Conference, sends a message in which He thanks God and expresses his joy for this fact . Furthermore, he states that, although this kidnapping modifies the climate of trust at the table with the ELN , it could also mark a new route in this negotiation, in which this scourge that causes so much damage to the country is completely eliminated. The prelate also reiterates that the country remains attentive to the release of the other kidnapped people.
“There is nothing that justifies the kidnapping of a person (…) It has immense damage to the kidnapped person, to his family and to the collective conscience of an entire country,” says Monsignor Sánchez.
The president of the Colombian episcopate, who also pastors one of the jurisdictions where this armed group causes serious damage to their communities, in the department of Cauca, also states in the message that the country needs gestures of trust after situations like these, as well as how to ratify hope in any process that aims to stop war and achieve peace. He finally remembers that the Church and the country are still waiting for the release of all the other kidnapped people.
It should be remembered that in the humanitarian commission formed for said liberation, Monsignor Francisco Ceballos, bishop of the Diocese of Riohacha, and Monsignor Héctor Fabio Henao, delegate of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia for Church-State relations, were present on behalf of the Church. He has also been a permanent companion at said negotiation table.

https://www.cec.org.co/sistema-informativo/actualidad/el-secuestro-es-un-flagelo-deplorable-que-lastima-la-conciencia-de
Excerpts from https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/11/09/father-of-liverpool-striker-luis-diaz-released-after-his-kidnapping-in-colombia-by-eln-guerrillas/

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