November 2 – Residents of the Colombian town of Barrancas have held a candle-lit march to demand the release of the father of Liverpool forward Luis Díaz.
Luis Manuel Díaz was kidnapped at gunpoint along with his wife on Saturday. The player’s mother was left behind in a car by the kidnappers as police closed in to rescue them both but the gunmen dragged away his father.
Many marchers wore t-shirts bearing Díaz Sr.’s face as they chanted for his release.
Colombian police say they have now identified those who could have been involved in the kidnapping.
“We have clarity on people who could have been linked to the incident,” General Alejandro Zapata, the deputy chief of national police, told a press conference. “When events like this occur, it is generally not spontaneous – there is prior planning. People who drag people to a place, that is, they place them so that others arrive and that is what we are investigating.”
The search operation has concentrated on a forest area bordering Colombia and Venezuela.
Díaz missed Liverpool’s 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
“The only thing now for us is we try to support him as much as we can,” Liverpool assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders told reporters ahead of Liverpool’s League Cup match at Bournemouth on Wednesday night, which Díaz also missed.
“A lot of things are out of our hands [which] is completely normal. We hope that the authorities there that they can find his dad and that everything is good. We just pray for that.”
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