(CNN Spanish) — Marcelo Pecci, assassinated in Colombia this Tuesday, was a nationally and internationally recognized figure for his work in the fight once morest drug trafficking. From “exceptional prosecutor” to “irreproachable servant”, praise has multiplied for this Paraguayan Public Ministry official who “started from the bottom”, according to the attorney general, and was now carrying out high-profile cases. This is what we know regarding him.
Pecci was on Barú Island, near Cartagena, along with his wife, journalist Claudia Aguilera, when two subjects got off a jet ski and shot him, Paraguayan Interior Minister Federico González told CNN on Tuesday. .
Just married and expecting a child
Marcelo Pecci had married the journalist Claudia Aguilera just a few days ago: the wedding took place on April 30, according to the information she shared on her social networks.
Shortly before the news of her death broke, Aguilera had shared on Instagram that they were going to be parents. The message, which accompanied a photo with baby shoes in the foreground and them embracing in the background, said: “The best wedding gift is… life bringing you closer to the most beautiful testimony of love.”
A prosecutor who “started from the bottom”
“Marcelo is a very old official. He started as a typist, he started from the bottom, generationally he was in a consolidated career”, Paraguay’s attorney general said on WednesdaySandra Quiñónez, who added that her death “will not be in vain” and that advances will be made on her behalf “with more strength once morest criminal structures.”
The Specialized Unit in the Fight once morest Drug Trafficking in which Pecci worked was created in 2007 in Paraguay to investigate drug-related crimes
Among others, its function is to dismantle organizations that are dedicated to international drug trafficking, the sale of drugs in urban areas, eliminate clandestine laboratories, destroy marijuana crops and prevent money and goods from being laundered. of drug trafficking.
This unit, which articulated nationally and internationally, said in a statement that Pecci He was an “impeccable public servant, highly qualified”. He also highlighted his “courage and firmness” in the fight once morest drug trafficking.
Marcelo Pecci, prosecutor of the Specialized Unit for the Fight once morest Drug Trafficking in Paraguay. Stock image. (Credit: Public Ministry of Paraguay).
Internationally recognized
Marcelo Pecci was part of the Network of Anti-Drug Prosecutors of Ibero-America, made up of prosecutors from 20 countries. In your social networksthe group described Pecci as “an exceptional prosecutor committed to his work as a service to Paraguayan society and as a way to contribute to a safer world.”
“Marcelo was an example for everyone and now he leaves us with a huge void and heartbreak,” he wrote.
Also highlighted was his “great work” as a collaborator of the UN agency dedicated to the fight once morest drugs and crime.
The director general of the Colombian National Police, Jorge Luis Vargas, said in an interview with Monumental that his death was “a blow in the global fight once morest international terrorism and drug trafficking worldwide.”
Causes with “important convictions”
Marcelo Pecci was carrying out cases with “important convictions” that might be behind what happened, according to local authorities.
In an interview with Radio Monumental 1080 AM this Wednesday, Commissioner Gilberto Fleitas, commander of the Paraguayan National Police, said that local authorities presume that the alleged perpetrators of the crime began to follow him in Paraguay.
“We think that the follow-up might start here. It is thought, it is presumed that the causes that he was carrying out, some already with important convictions, some foreigners who have important convictions in the country, may be the causes of this situation. That in time we are only going to elucidate, who it might be, where he came from … ”, Fleitas pointed out.
Officials from Paraguay, Colombia and the United States are participating in the investigation of the crime. On Tuesday followingnoon, Colombia’s attorney general, Francisco Barbosa, reported that he had sent “expert investigators in hitman-type homicides” to investigate what happened.
pecci too was involved in the case of former soccer star Ronaldinho, who was arrested and investigated for the use of false documents to enter the country in 2020.
With information from Sanie Lopez-Garelli, Fernando Ramos and Gabriela Frias
