The murder this Tuesday in Colombia of Marcelo Pecci, an anti-mafia prosecutor from Paraguay who was on his honeymoon on the Caribbean island of Barú, It seems to point towards organized crime and will be investigated by several countries.
The murder occurred this morning on this islandwhich is about 40 minutes by boat from the tourist city of Cartagena de Indias, where Pecci, 45, He was on his honeymoon with his wife, the Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera, whom he had married on the 30th of April in Asuncion.
"Two men arrived in a boat and approached and shot him."the wife told W Radio, where she explained that the prosecutor died after being shot several times on the private beach of the Decameron Hotel, one of the most popular in the coastal area of Cartagena and where the newlyweds were staying.
Pecci was a specialized prosecutor against Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking, Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Paraguay, said the Colombian Prosecutor’s Office, which ordered the shipment to Cartagena "of a team of prosecutors and criminalistics experts to take on the investigative activities and clarify what happened".
While waiting for official information on the investigation of the facts, local media point out that this is a hitman attack, since there was no robbery, and the Colombian Police has sent five of its best homicide investigators to connect the dots on what happened and asked both Paraguay and the United States for collaboration.
The couple shared this morning on their social networks that they were expecting a babyin addition to multiple photos enjoying their honeymoon on this paradisiacal Caribbean island.
According to Aguilera, her husband had no threatdespite the fact that he was one of the most important prosecutors in the country, in charge of investigating drug cases, money laundering and organized crime.
high caliber investigations
Pecci participated for the Public Ministry in the investigations into a shooting that occurred in his country during the Ja’umina festival, last January, when the Colombian group Binomio de Oro played, and in which two people died, including the model and "influencer" Cristina ‘Vita’ Aranda, wife of soccer player Iván Torres.
Some hypotheses of these events, which left four injured, also point to a hitman attack for a possible drug-trafficking reckoning.
Similarly, he was part of the Prosecutor’s Office team that intervened in 2020 in the process against former Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Gaúcho and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira for the adulteration of Paraguayan documents when entering the country with false passports.
He was also in charge of the investigations into the murder of four people, including the daughter of the governor of the Paraguayan department of Amambay, Roland Acevedo, which occurred in October last year, and that some point out that he intended to end the life of the opposition politician.
Stupor in Colombia and Paraguay
The President of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benitez, condemned "the cowardly murder" of the prosecutorwhat "mourns the entire nation"and was emphatic in his position to fight "against organized crime"which supports the hypothesis of an intentionality behind the homicide.
In subsequent statements to journalists, the president promised to continue "in the fight against organized crime" and qualified as "very painful, very hard" the happened.
Colombian President Iván Duque contacted Abdo Benítez "in order to contribute to the investigations of this fact and catch those responsible"as detailed by the Foreign Ministry.
The director of the Colombian Police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, traveled to Cartagena to supervise the investigation of the crime and assured that they have "spoken with the United States authorities so that they also join the team that has been organized in Colombia and Paraguay to bring those responsible as quickly as possible to justice in the United States, Paraguay and Colombia".
The senior police officer announced that they already have information collected "that are reserved"but they are helpful in clarifying what happened.
