Mexico asks the United States to extradite the ‘mastermind’ of the murder of journalist Javier Valdez

The Mexican government has asked the United States to extradite a senior drug cartel figure suspected of the murder of well-known journalist Javier Valdez in 2017.

Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of drug trafficking, was shot dead in the city of Culiacán in May 2017.

Mexican authorities say the journalist’s murder was ordered by Dámaso López Serrano, a former high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel.

López Serrano, who according to the U.S. Department of Justice goes by the nickname “Mini Lic,” was arrested on fentanyl trafficking charges in Virginia on December 13.

At a news conference this week, Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said López Serrano was the “mastermind” of Valdez’s murder.

“We have already prosecuted the rest of the perpetrators and they are in jail,” he said.

Gertz added that Mexico requested his extradition “on countless occasions,” but was rejected because U.S. authorities considered López Serrano a “protected witness” who “was giving them a lot of information.”

Investigators believe López Serrano ordered Valdez’s murder after being angered by the journalist’s coverage of internal power struggles within the Sinaloa cartel.

López Serrano’s father, Dámaso López Núñez, was considered a key lieutenant of cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

Following Guzmán’s arrest and extradition to the United States, López Núñez launched a bloody power struggle for control of the cartel, but was eventually captured in a raid in Mexico City in 2017.

In July 2017, López Serrano surrendered to US authorities to face drug trafficking charges and cooperated in exchange for a reduced sentence.

At the time, U.S. law enforcement officials described him as the “highest-ranking leader of the Mexican cartel” to “surrender” in the United States.

He was released on parole in 2022. He was arrested again Friday to face additional charges of trafficking fentanyl.

At the time of his death, Valdez had been covering a bloody power struggle within the Sinaloa cartel that pitted López Núñez and López Serrano against Guzmán’s sons.

Eight days before his death he published a column in which he described López Serrano as spoiled, “good for chatting but not for business” and a “weekend gunman with a prop gun.”

Mexico is one of the most violent countries in the world for journalists.

Data from Reporters Without Borders shows that more than 150 journalists have been murdered there since 1994.

In 2022, at least 15 people were murdered, making it one of the most violent years in history for Mexican journalists.

The violence has continued. In October, a journalist was shot dead in the violence-plagued city of Uruapan.

The next day, an entertainment reporter was shot to death inside a restaurant she owned in the state of Colima.