Ghost in the Shell: Who's Marcelo?

Question

Exactly who was Marcelo? In Ghost in the Shell SAC episode 7, we see that the major and co were chasing after him to know exactly what business he had entering Japan, but they never explain what happens, more specifically why did Sec9 allow him to just roam freely. Isn't he a notorious drug lord?

Answer 1

The episode starts with the words of a correspondent: "Marcelo Jarti, leader of the Jenoma democratic revolution, as well as military advisor to the current administration, was attacked in Panan City today". He was visiting and the shooting was pretty serious, so he was assumed to have been killed. Section 9's agents are seen confirming his identity in the beginning of the episode.

Major Kusanagi says:

"Leader of the democratic revolution. Legendary hero. He and the current chaimran were the cenral figures in the revolution commanding the guerrilla war and leading it to victory. But after the revolution, he showed no interest whatsoever in politics, and backed the State Council chairman from behind the scenes, remaining true to his principles, staying a mere soldier. <…> The SAS and Delta Force have been behind five assassination plots against him, but he's miraculously survived each time. Nobody in his country doubts that he's their ̈„Immortal Hero“."

Then the guy with the scanner confirms that the signs of Ghost are present in Marcel's behavior. That doesn't absolutely prove his authenticity, but only says chances are high it's really him.

Director Aramaki of the Section 9 then briefs the team about the mission:

In the past five years, Marcelo has come to Japan 12 times <…> Foreign Affairs Section 1 had been unable to ascertain his activities in-country. <…> They want us to find out why Marcelo has entered the country so often.

Bato responds: "He's a South American drug lord, isn't he? Something to do with that, maybe?" Major Matoko says it's unlikely that his interest is in making a drug deal, since he trades the classic drugs, while most of the Japan has switched to virtual drugs.

But then Marcelo is indeed seen with some drug traders. And after the investigation reveals that there are clones of Marcelo that look very life-like due to his subtle personality traits being copied over to them, it makes the same external appearance as the Ghost, making everyone think that clones are the real thing.

Marcelo is found dead and for some time now his clones have been keeping up his legendary work. Revealing the fact of his death to the public and other organizations could stir up a lot of trouble, so the Section 9 leaves things as they are for now.

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The cybercrime case is closed, but what about the drug business? I don't know for sure, but I have a theory. It's likely that Marcelo's clones have been killed more than once during drug deals, but authorities decide to go with "he's alive, everything is fine" info every time because maybe they're interested in continuing the drug deals. Possibly they have a way to trace Marcelo's movements and ambush drug lords like that.