Marcelo Pecci, 45, was fatally shot whereas relaxing on a seaside on Colombia’s Carribean island of Baru, his wife says.
Printed On 10 Might maybe 2022
Paraguayan anti-drug prosecutor Marcelo Pecci has been shot tiresome whereas honeymooning on a Colombian Caribbean island by men who fled by sea, police and his widow mentioned.
Paraguay’s president denounced the crime as a “cowardly execute” and a fellow prosecutor mentioned the modus operandi was reminiscent of “the [drug] mafia”.
Pecci, 45, was felled by two shots on Tuesday whereas relaxing on a seaside on the tourist island of Baru, in step with his wife, Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera, whom he married on April 30 in the inner attain metropolis of Cartagena.
“Two men attacked Marcelo. They came in a itsy-bitsy boat, or on a jet ski, truly I didn’t look neatly,” she knowledgeable the El Tiempo newspaper.
Regarded as one of the most assailants bought out and “and not utilizing a phrase he shot Marcelo twice, one [bullet] hit him in the face and one more in the support”, Aguilera mentioned.
She mentioned her husband of lower than two weeks had not got any threats.
The Decameron hotel, the place the couple was staying, mentioned in a press originate that “assassins arrived on the seaside … and attacked and murdered one of our pals”.
The motive for the killing was not straight known, nonetheless Paraguayan prosecutor Augusto Salas, a colleague of Pecci, mentioned the modus operandi was “regular of the [drug] mafia, so that’s what I’ll concentrate on except the contrary is confirmed”.
Colombian police chief Jorge Luis Vargas mentioned 5 execute investigators had been dispatched to Baru, and would possibly well maybe perchance receive backing from Paraguayan and US consultants.
“There is recordsdata being clean … that will abet us name these to blame,” Vargas mentioned.
Colombian President Ivan Duque “denounced” the killing on Twitter. Duque mentioned he had supplied condolences to his Paraguayan counterpart Mario Abdo Benitez and promised “cooperation to search out these to blame”.
For his piece, Benitez mentioned on Twitter: “Your whole Paraguayan nation mourns the cowardly execute of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in Colombia.
“We condemn this tragic occasion in the strongest phrases, and we redouble our dedication to combating organized crime,” he added.
Pecci’s space of job mentioned in a press originate that steps had been being taken “to originate assistance and guarantee the security of his family”.
Pecci had specialised in organised crime, drug trafficking, cash laundering and the financing of terrorism.
He was wrathful about investigations in opposition to Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho, held in Paraguay for quite a lot of months in 2020 over a untrue passport scandal.
He furthermore led an operation that ended in the seizure of dozens of properties got thru cash laundering, and the arrest of some 30 other folks this year.
The US embassy in Paraguay supplied its condolences to Pecci’s family and hailed his “dedication, professionalism and dedication to the fight in opposition to organised crime”.
Paraguay’s ambassador to Colombia, Sophia Lopez, mentioned Pecci was on a “deepest” day commute and had no work conferences scheduled.
Colombia, the area’s largest cocaine producer, is contending with a wave of violence no topic a 2016 peace deal that disarmed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) neighborhood and ended a near six-decade civil battle.
Fighting over territory and sources continues in aspects of the country between dissident FARC armed fighters, the ELN rise up neighborhood, paramilitary forces and drug cartels.
For its piece, landlocked Paraguay – nestled between Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina – has change into a crucial launchpad for medication headed for Europe.
Paraguay and Colombia maintain not too long previously reinforced their alliance in the fight in opposition to organised and harmful-border crime.