The Delegation of the National Government at the Peace Dialogue Table with the ELN expressed its satisfaction with the release of Luis Manuel Díaz, father of the soccer player Luis Díaz, urging the ELN to eliminate the kidnapping and release all people in captivity.
In a statement released after the liberation of Manuel Díaz in La Guajirathe Delegation ratified its demand to eradicate the practice of kidnapping by the armed group, requesting the immediate and safe release of all people under their captivity.
The statement also censures the ELN’s justification of kidnapping as a financing method and demands a prompt discussion on the terms of its political incorporation process in the scenario of the end of the conflict.
Furthermore, the Delegation warns about the disastrous effects of kidnappingconsidering it an obstacle to peace and a continuous crime that generates rejection and anguish.
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President Gustavo Petro celebrated the release with a message on his social networks: “Long live freedom and peace.”
Likewise, the Episcopal Conference, mediator in the process, thanked the release and confirmed the presence of Mons. Francisco Ceballos and Mons. Héctor Henao, who formed the humanitarian commission for the release of Luis Díaz.
“the systematic practice of kidnapping is an enemy of peace, it generates hatred that is difficult to overcome against its perpetrators, it is a continuous crime – since it extends beyond the act of retention itself -, it generates permanent anguish for the kidnapped person and their loved ones and a total rejection by the national and international community.
The statement to the public appears to have been signed by José Otty Patiño Hormaza, head of Delegation; Senators Ivan Cepeda Castro and Maria Jose Pizarro Rodriguez; the delegates from the Government Bureau, Jose Felix Lafaurie Rivera, Orlando Romero Reyes, Adelaide Jimenez Cortes, Olga Lilia Silva Lopez, Rodrigo Botero Garcia, Horacio Guerrero Garcia and Rosmery Quintero Castro.
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