Paraguay’s anti-narcotics prosecutor assassinated on honeymoon

Mr. Marcelo Pecci, 45, collapsed after two bullets while resting on the beach on Baru island of Colombia, AFP quoted his wife as saying on May 10. They just got married on April 30 and are on their honeymoon.

“Two men attacked Marcelo. They were traveling in a small boat, or a jet ski, I couldn’t really see,” Mr. Pecci’s wife, Claudia Aguilera, told a local newspaper.

Mr. Marcelo Pecci is a prosecutor specializing in organized crime. afp

One of the men stepped down and “shot Marcelo twice without saying a word, one bullet hit his face and the other hit his back,” Aguilera said. She said her husband had not received any threats before.

President Paraguay Abdo Benitez condemned the assassination, calling it a “despicable murder”, while a fellow prosecutor said the gunmen’s practices resembled “drug mafias”.

“We condemn this tragic event in the strongest terms and we will promote our commitment to combat organized crime,” Mr Benitez said.

Colombia’s national police chief, Jorge Luis Vargas, said five investigators have been sent to Baru and they will receive support from experts from Paraguay and the US.

Mr. Pecci is a prosecutor specializing in organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing. He once participated in the investigation against the Brazilian football player Ronaldinho because of the fake passport scandal in 2020.

Colombia, the largest producer of cocaine worldis facing a wave of violence despite the 2016 peace deal. This historic agreement helped disarm the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and end the civil war that lasted nearly six decades. century.

Meanwhile, Paraguay – located between Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina – has become an important gathering place for shipments drug heading to Europe.