A woman suspected in the murder of a Paraguayan anti-mafia prosecutor was expelled from El Salvador and turned over to Colombian police on Saturday, according to the office of the Colombian prosecutor.
Margareth L Chacon Zuniga is suspected of involvement in the “planning, financing and logistics of the murder of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci” and was set to appear before a supervising court on Sunday, according to a tweet from the investigation organization.
Her arrest takes to seven the number of individuals detained in connection with Pecci’s murder in May of last year.
The prosecutor was murdered in front of his pregnant wife, journalist Claudia Aguilera of Paraguay, when they were on their honeymoon on the Colombian island of Baru, near the Caribbean town of Cartagena.
The BBC said that just two hours before the incident, Aguilera had posted an Instagram photo announcing the couple’s pregnancy. Two males arrived on the beach by jet ski or small boat, according to Aguilera’s account. One of them approached Pecci and “without a word,” shot him twice.
El Salvador’s Minister of Justice, Gustavo Villatoro, previously announced Chacon’s expulsion through Twitter, along with images depicting the 42-year-old Colombian lady being led by Interpol agents as she boarded a plane.
Reiteramos: El Salvador no será refugio de criminales internacionales.
Hemos culminado el proceso de expulsión de Margareth Lizeth Chacón Zúñiga, quien is requerida por la justicia colombiana por su participación en el homicidio del fiscal antimafia paraguayo Marcelo Pecci. pic.twitter.com/MiNvrVsovC
— Gustavo Villatoro (@Vi11atoro) January 21, 2023
Villatoro added, “We reiterate: El Salvador will not be a refuge for international criminals,”
Chacon was seized on Wednesday alongside 47-year-old Salvadoran Wilber Huezo, who is suspected of hiding her in the Central American nation.
Two locations where the suspect was hiding were raided by Salvadoran authorities, who recovered Colombian passports, smartphones, laptops, approximately 15,000 euros ($16,000), as well as some dollars and Colombian and Mexican pesos.
Authorities in Colombia, Paraguay, and the United States are seeking for the masterminds of the killing, who are allegedly connected to drug trafficking networks.
Margareth Lizeth Chacon Zuniga, who allegedly assisted in the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, who was killed on the island of Baru near Cartagena, Colombia, on January 18, 2023, is presented to the media in San Salvador, El Salvador, after her arrest on that date.
Pecci researched Brazilian criminal groups and money launderers in a region where the borders of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil intersect.
The U.S. State Department offered a $5 million reward in November for information “leading to the arrests and/or convictions of the as yet unknown individuals who conspired or attempted to participate” in the killing.
In June, four of the detained individuals, including the assassin, pled guilty and were sentenced to 23 years in jail.
Gabriel Carlos Luis Salinas Mendoza, a Venezuelan citizen detained in Caracas, appears on a video to confess to his role in the murder of Marcelo Pecci. The footage was shared with journalists by Venezuela’s interior minister last month.
Salinas, one of two alleged assassins, is seen telling interrogators, “We rented a jet ski, we went to Baru beach (in Colombia) and we executed”
Then, “I got $8,000 and came to Venezuela” over the border.
Salinas is suspected of operating the jet ski.
On November 9, 2021, Paraguayan anti-drug prosecutor Marcelo Pecci will speak in Asuncion.
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