![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-06-094649-696x391.png\" "\\"Screenshot")
Image caption: Emotional D\u00edaz lifted his shirt to reveal the words “freedom for papa” after scoring on Sunday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Colombian-born Liverpool footballer Luis D\u00edaz has begged for his father\u2019s kidnappers to free him immediately and \u201cend this painful wait\u201d.<\/p>\n
Both of D\u00edaz\u2019s parents were seized at gunpoint in his hometown of Barrancas by left-wing guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on 28 October.<\/p>\n
While his mother was found, his father is still missing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz\u00a0scored a goal against Luton on Sunday,\u00a0lifting his shirt to reveal the words in Spanish \u201cfreedom for papa\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery second, every minute our anxiety grows,\u201d D\u00edaz, 26, said in a statement released shortly after the match in England\u2019s Premier League.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother, my brothers and I are desperate, and anxious and have no words to describe what we are feeling. This suffering will only end when we have him home with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz also thanked \u201cthe Colombians and the international community for the support that\u2019s been received, [and the] many demonstrations of care and solidarity in this difficult moment\u201d.<\/p>\n The Colombian government has deployed hundreds of police and soldiers to free the footballer\u2019s father, Luis Manuel D\u00edaz.<\/p>\n On the day of the kidnap attack, CCTV footage showed the car D\u00edaz\u2019s parents were driving in being followed by men on motorbikes.<\/p>\n The couple was accosted by the gunmen as they had stopped at a petrol station in Barrancas, in the northern province of La Guajira.<\/p>\n The kidnappers later abandoned Luis D\u00edaz\u2019s mother in a car as police closed in, but dragged away his father.<\/p>\n Police originally said that a criminal gang was most likely to blame.<\/p>\n But a government delegation \u2013 which is currently engaged in peace talks with the rebel group \u2013 late said that it had \u201cofficial knowledge\u201d that the kidnapping had been carried out by \u201ca unit belonging to the ELN\u201d.<\/p>\n A representative of the group has reportedly said the group will free D\u00edaz\u2019s father in the coming days.<\/p>\n The ELN is Colombia\u2019s main remaining active guerrilla group. It has been fighting the state since 1964 and has an estimated 2,500 members.<\/p>\n It is most active in the border region with Venezuela, where Luis Manuel D\u00edaz and his wife Cilenis Marulanda live.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/_131602333_gettyimages-1757873826-1.jpg\")