More than 120 police-backed soldiers scoured northern Colombia this Sunday, looking for the father of Liverpool winger and former FC Porto player Luis Diaz, who has been kidnapped, along with the player’s mother, who has already been saved.

The army said in a statement that it had set up roadblocks and sent two motorized platoons, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and a radar plane in search of Luis Manuel Diaz.

Colombian authorities did not provide details of the kidnapping, but media reported that the player’s father and mother were taken away on Saturday by armed men on motorcycles from a gas station in his hometown of Barrancas, in the north of La Guajira department.

President Gustavo Petro said the player’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued in Barrancas on the same day the couple was taken.

Colombia is a country that has just emerged from decades of civil conflict between rival armed groups, where more than 38,000 people have been kidnapped in recent years, mainly for ransom.

President Petro said at an event to mark the opening of Bogotá’s local elections that “all public forces had been mobilized” to find Diaz’s father.

Luis Manuel Diaz is an amateur coach at the only football school in Barrancas, a city of about 38,000 inhabitants, where his son showed promise from a very young age.

“Worrying situation”

Diaz, a 26-year-old Wayuu indigenous man, has not spoken publicly about his parents’ kidnapping.
This Sunday, the Portuguese Diogo Jota dedicated the goal he scored in the Premier League match against Nottingham Forest to him, in which Diaz did not play.

To celebrate, Jota ran to coach Jurgen Klopp, who presented him with Diaz’s shirt, which the Portuguese lifted to the applause of the Liverpool fans.

Good luck, Luis Díaz We are all with you.#PremierELEVEN pic.twitter.com/Z6NJOe7zZp

– DAZN Portugal (@DAZNPortugal) October 29, 2023

Colombian police offered a reward of about $48,000 for information leading to Diaz and his captors.

Liverpool FC said in a statement on Sunday that it “ardently hopes that the matter is resolved safely and as quickly as possible. In the meantime, the player’s welfare will remain our immediate priority.”

Coach Klopp described the situation as a “worrying situation for all of us”. “Obviously we had to make a late change because of the private situation surrounding Luis Diaz,” he said before Sunday’s match.

“It was a very difficult night. I have never experienced this before. It is a new experience.”

Diaz is the first native Colombian to reach the top level of world football.
He made 43 appearances for his country, entered European football through FC Porto and later moved to Liverpool in January 2022.