Pedro Perlaza, 33, a defender with top-flight club Delfin, was freed along with another person, police announced Wednesday evening in a social media post. He had been missing since Sunday evening. A video released by police on Thursday showed the two men - both barefoot - tearfully thanking their rescuers.

"They've been badly treated, but they're alive," Diego Velastegui, head of police in the northwestern port city of Esmeraldas, told reporters. Police "were met by bullets from the criminals" near the coastal town of Atacames, he said. The kidnappers fled after officers returned fire.

It was not clear whether any of the kidnappers were arrested, though Velastegui said several were wounded. Perlaza had been held in a wooden shack built on stilts, tucked into a wooded area, according to an aerial photo released by authorities. Perlaza was capped three times by the national team in 2020 and has spent his entire career with Ecuadoran clubs.

He was crowned champion in 2019 with Delfin and in 2022 with Aucas. In recent years, Ecuador has faced a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking. The country's homicide rate has risen from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 47 in 2023.

Kidnapping, extortion, murder and prison massacres are now commonplace, in a country once considered an island of tranquility in Latin America.

P. Perlaza

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