30 October 2023 , 03:41
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Luis Diaz's father may have been taken to Venezuela as part of the extraordinary kidnapping of the Liverpool star's parents, Colombia's attorney general has revealed.
The Liverpool forward's parents were kidnapped on Saturday evening while driving home to the town of Barrancas, in Colombia's Caribbean region. The police and military were immediately mobilised as a full scale operation to recover the pair was put in place.
Diaz's mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued shortly after the incident but his father, Luis Manuel Diaz, remains missing. Now, Colombia's attorney general, Francisco Barbosa, confirmed it was possible Diaz's father was being taken to Venezuela.
He told reporters: "We have information that he could, at some point, be in Venezuela. If he ends up crossing the border and he's in Venezuela, we have to ask [ Colombia ] President Gustavo Petro ... to help us with freeing Luis Diaz's father."
Colombia football federation also issued a statement to the captors, urging the release of Diaz's father. It read: “We ask the captors of Luis Manuel Diaz, father of Luis F. Diaz, to release him immediately, without conditions. Football is peace. Luis, we are with you. Colombia is with you."
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A reward of 200m Colombian peso (£40k) is being offered by the Colombian police for any information that leads to the rescue Diaz's father. The former Porto star is being kept abreast of the operation by police chiefs.
General William Salamanca, in charge of the operation, told Diaz the Colombian president ordered him to lead the rescue mission and assured the footballer his mother is "safe and sound." He added: "We are here using all the air and land capabilities of the police with the support of the Colombian Army."
Diaz was missing from Liverpool's 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Explaining the troubling set of circumstances, Klopp said: "We had to obviously make a late change because of the private situation involving Luis Diaz. It's a worrying situation for all of us and it was a pretty tough night. I have never had that before. It's a new experience I never needed."
A flyer being handed out for any information leading to the rescue of Luis Diaz's father (COLOMBIA'S NATIONAL POLICE PRESS)The German added: “We heard late last night about it. We spoke to Luis, he wanted to go home...Then we got the news with his mum, which is fantastic, and since then nothing really. We are obviously the first people to get involved and we try to have knowledge of everything as much as we can, but we don’t want to disturb in any way the important people there, we just want to support, that’s it."
Diogo Jota replaced Diaz in the lineup and scored Liverpool's opener against Forest. He led a Diaz-inspired tribute with his celebration. He too was asked about the situation.
The Portuguese said: "Luis was with us in the hotel then he went home. It's a very hard situation and I don't know how anyone would react if it happened to you. He was going to play. I played instead of him and I showed him his shirt to show we're with him and we hope everything works out. It's unimaginable to think a situation like this could happen. We can just support him and show him we're with him."