Mexico asks US to hand over ‘mastermind’ of journalist’s murder

Mexico’s government has asked the US to extradite a senior drug cartel figure suspected in the 2017 murder of prominent journalist Javier Valdez.

Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, was shot In May 2017 in Culiacan city.

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

Lopez Serrano – who the US Justice Department says goes by the nickname “Mini Lick” – was arrested on December 13 in Virginia on charges of fentanyl trafficking.

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

“We have already prosecuted the remaining criminals and they are in jail,” he said.

Mr Gertz said Mexico had sought his extradition “on countless occasions”, but had been rejected because US authorities considered López Serrano a “protected witness” who was “giving them a lot of information”.

Investigators believe that López Serrano, angered by the journalist’s coverage of the internal power struggle within the Sinaloa Cartel, ordered Valdez’s murder.

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

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

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

At the time, US law enforcement officials described him as the “highest-ranking Mexican cartel leader” to “surrender” to the US.

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

At the time of his death, Valdez was covering a bloody power struggle inside 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 gunslinger with a prop pistol.”

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 killed there since 1994.

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

Violence continues. In October, a journalist was shot dead in the violence-hit city of Uruapan.

The next day, an entertainment reporter was shot dead inside a restaurant he owned in Colima state.