The Mexican government has asked the United States to extradite a senior drug cartel suspect in the 2017 murder of prominent journalist Javier Valdez.
Valdez, known for his award-winning coverage of the drug trade, Shot down 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.
Lopez Serrano — who the U.S. Department of Justice says goes by the moniker “Mini Lic” — was arrested Dec. 13 in Virginia on charges of trafficking fentanyl.
At a news conference this week, Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz said Lopez Serrano was the “mastermind” of Valdez’s murder.
“We have already prosecuted the rest of the criminals and they are in jail,” he said.
Mr Gritz added that Mexico had requested his extradition “on countless occasions” but had been denied because US 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, Damaso López Núñez, was believed to be a key lieutenant of cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán.
After Guzmán’s capture and extradition to the United States, López Nevez began 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 Mexican cartel leader” to “surrender” in the United States.
He was released from prison on parole in 2022. He was rearrested Friday to face additional charges of trafficking fentanyl.
At the time of his death, Valdez was covering a bloody power struggle within the Sinaloa cartel that pitted López Novez and López Serrano against Guzmán’s sons.
Eight days before his death, he published a column in which he disparaged López Serrano, calling him “good for chatting but not for business” and “a weekly gunman with a prop pistol.”
Mexico is one of the most violent countries in the world for journalists.
Figures from Reporters Without Borders show that more than 150 journalists have been killed there since 1994.
In 2022, at least 15 were killed, making it one of the most violent years for journalists in Mexico.
The violence continues. In October, a journalist was shot dead in the violence-plagued city of Europen.
The next day, an entertainment reporter was shot dead inside a restaurant in the state of Colima.