The murder on the Colombian beaches of the Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, dedicated to the investigation of organized crime, exposed the harsh security crisis facing the South American country due to drug trafficking and the bands who operate with impunity. And it is that although Pecci was assassinated in Barú, while he was enjoying his honeymoon, the first hypotheses suggest that his work against the mafia was behind the cataloged assassination.
(Also read: Marcelo Pecci received 3 shots from a 9 millimeter; the latest in the case)
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Pecci and his wife Claudia Aguilera during their honeymoon in Barú.
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Instagram: @aguileraclaudi
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According to analysts consulted by this newspaper, the Pecci case is a reflection of the widespread crime crisis that Paraguay is facing. The Coordinating Network for Human Rights of Paraguay (Codehupy) described the country’s situation as a “genuine security crisis” due to the operation of criminal groups dedicated to the drug business and the incursion of drug trafficking into high public spheres. and policies.
Juan Martens, a doctor in criminology and security from Paraguay, told EL TIEMPO that his country has become “a large regional distribution center for cocaine,” given that although it is a landlocked nation, its position in the middle of Two large territories, such as Argentina and Brazil, have turned it into a propitious route for the passage of drugs within the continent and towards Europe.
“The Paraguay-Paraná waterway became the main point of departure for merchandise destined for Europe, through the ports of Buenos Aires or Montevideo, and effectively meant that cartels from Mexico, Colombia, and Eastern Europe , even from Italy, have settled here,” he says.
(You may be interested in: Murder of prosecutor Pecci: behind the crime there would be mafia networks from Paraguay)
Added to this, the expert mentions that Paraguay is the largest producer of marijuana in South America. This is due to its large amount of rural territory and its flat surfaces that facilitate the cultivation of cannabis, according to the Insight Crime Foundation.
This drug route has turned Paraguay into the epicenter of operations for different groups linked to drug trafficking, such as the First Capital Command of Brazil, the largest organization in that country, or the national Clan Rotela, which have intensified violence in recent years. According to the local newspaper Última Hora, in areas such as Asunción, the cases of hired killers intensified, going from seven between 2017 and 2020, to eight only so far in 2022.
(Also: Marcelo Pecci: who was the prosecutor murdered on Barú Island?)
The phenomenon of ‘narcopolitics’
Analysts agree that perhaps the biggest problem Paraguay is currently facing has to do with corruption and the incursion of drug traffickers into the institutions of power.
“Organized crime has seen the need to have control of the state apparatus to guarantee its illegal businesses. In recent times, the Paraguayan State has shown the most present face of drug trafficking in some institutions. Today we have at least two deputies prosecuted for drug trafficking and money laundering, we have a deputy who was convicted of money laundering in the United States and we have numerous politicians who are characterized as people linked to drug trafficking,” says Oscar Ayala, executive secretary of Codehupy.
Precisely, the Paraguayan deputy Kattya González assured in a parliamentary speech after Pecci’s death that at least 80 percent of his companions have a correlation with organized crime.
(Keep reading: Prosecutor Pecci’s crime: chronology of the murder that shakes two countries)
80% of those sitting in this chamber respond to organized crime and paid for their campaigns with money from drug trafficking, denounces the deputy @ KattyaGonzalez9. He claims his colleagues for not approving regulations to purge the police, to punish the conflict of interest pic.twitter.com/SzYpMmNZHC
– Rocío Pereira Da Costa (@RocioPereira) May 11, 2022
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Ayala, however, explains that the matter is not new, since even dictator Alfredo Stroessner’s party already had accusations of corruption and links to drug trafficking since 1954, which lasted until the early 1990s.
And in terms of justice, according to the 2020 Global Impunity Index, Paraguay is among the ten countries with the highest levels of impunity, ranking 64th out of 69 countries in a list ordered in ascending order according to their impunity rates.
In this regard, Ayala mentions that politics has had a clear interference in justice, facilitating the obtaining of tailor-made sentences or punishing and dismissing those who have dedicated themselves to the fight against organized crime.
“Our biggest problem has to do with the lack of independence of justice, with the impunity that allows many of these organizations to work, in quotes, freely and perpetrate crimes that affect us all,” he says.
(You can read: The dramatic story of the wife of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci murdered in Barú)
The crisis in Latin America
What is certain is that the murder of prosecutor Pecci, for experts, marks a before and after. According to Martens, the country had never had a case like this in which he attacked an official of the Public Ministry on account of the processes that he was carrying out.
“A state co-opted by organized crime did not put the interests of criminal gangs at risk and, therefore, the need to protect them was not even seen,” he points out.
From his perspective, Pecci’s crime is a warning from criminal groups that there will be a confrontation with the State when the actions of judges or politicians affect them or create damage to their businesses.
“Pecci’s death has to be read along these lines, as a message from the criminal gangs that say: ‘Here we do what we want, we kill not just any prosecutor, but one of the main prosecutors in the fight against drug trafficking,'” he adds.
(In other news: Debanhi Escobar was murdered and suffered sexual violence, according to an autopsy)
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Performance to ask for justice after the murder of prosecutor Pecci.
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However, what happens in Paraguay is not exclusive to this country in the region, turns out to be a dangerous sample of crime that in recent years has intensified in most of Latin America and whose tentacles manage to dominate, in some cases, the branches of power.
In Ecuador, for example, the United States ambassador Michael Fitzpatrick affirmed that the link between drug trafficking and the military forces was creating ‘narco-generals’.
The fight between cartels has also put the government in check with a prison crisis that has cost the lives of more than 400 inmates since 2020. And in the streets, 1,255 people have been killed, decapitated or mutilated so far this year, the half of all deaths recorded the previous year.
(Keep reading: Massacres in Ecuador’s prisons: What’s behind it?)
In the case of Mexico, a US report stated that government corruption and lack of capacity have not allowed for effective control of drug trafficking. In addition, according to Insight Crime, drug trafficking groups are responsible for 2021 being the fourth consecutive year with more than 30,000 murders in that country.
Uruguay also speaks of an “unprecedented wave of drug violence.” In just one week, 14 bodies of murdered people have been found in Montevideo.
And so far in 2022, the country has registered 96 homicides, 33 percent more than in the same period of 2021. If the trend continues, according to analysts consulted by Efe, Uruguay could register an annual record of homicides.
Tributes to Marcelo Pecci in Paraguay.
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Judicial officials led by the attorney general, Sandra Quiñónez, marched from the headquarters of the Public Ministry to demand justice.
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And it is that although this region concentrates only 8 percent of the world population, it represents 33 percent of the homicides committed in the world, according to figures published by the Elcano Royal Institute.
(Also: Why is Uruguay facing an unprecedented wave of ‘narco’ violence?)
Under this panorama, Ayala assures that it is essential that the States guarantee the independence of power and justice to allow the organizations that have the investigative work in their hands to execute it autonomously and safely.
The second thing, says the expert, will be to implement a social investment policy to prevent the lack of opportunities from dragging important sectors into illicit businesses, especially in a region with 201 million people living in poverty, according to figures from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
ANGIE NATALY RUIZ HURTADO
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
@Angie_ruiz26
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