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Father of the Liverpool football star Luis Diazwho was kidnapped by A Colombian guerrilla group He was released last month on Thursday and handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the Catholic Church in Valledupar, Colombia. According to the Episcopal Conference of Colombia.

“We thank God for the release of Mr. Luis Diaz!” The conference was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Already with him are Mons. Francisco Ceballos, Bishop of Riohacha and Mons. Hector Henao, Delegate for Church-State Relations, who formed the Humanitarian Committee responsible for facilitating his release.

It was Luis Manuel Díaz and his wife Selenis Marulanda Kidnapped by gunmen Members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) on motorcycles at a gas station in Barrancas, the family’s hometown in northern Colombia, on October 28.

Marulanda was rescued later the same day, but a major police and military search was ongoing trying to find Diaz Sr.

Diaz played and scored for Liverpool on Sunday and demanded his father’s release after the Premier League match against Luton Town.

The National Liberation Army said on Tuesday that Colombian military operations did not allow for the release of Díaz Sr., and the rebel group said in a statement that it was trying to “avoid incidents with official forces,” referring to the presence of military forces in the area of ​​an undeclared area.

Both the Colombian government’s peace delegation and the National Liberation Army welcomed the release of the footballer’s father.

In a statement issued Thursday, the delegation thanked the police and army, as well as the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and the Episcopal Conference, for their assistance in releasing Díaz Sr.

“We hope that he will soon regain his calm and change it by doing something that should never have happened,” the delegation’s statement said.

In addition, the Colombian Football Federation thanked all the forces “that made possible the release of Luis Manuel Díaz, the father of our player Luis Díaz.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.