The mastermind behind the murder of the journalist was wanted by Mexico – but the US called him a “protected witness”

Mexico has asked the United States to extradite the suspected mastermind the killing of journalist Javier Valdez after being arrested on drug charges, said the attorney general.

Damaso Lopez Serrano – who the Justice Department says is known as the “Mini Lic” – is accused of ordering the killing of Valdez, a 2017 award-winning journalist and AFP reporter who reported on the drug trade.

This former senior member The Sinaloa Cartel was arrested Friday in Virginia on charges of trafficking fentanyl. Lopez Serrano is the son of Damaso Lopez Nunezwho initiated the struggle to control the group following the arrest of its leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Mexican Attorney General Alejandro Gertz described Lopez Serrano as the “mastermind” of Valdez’s murder.

“We have prosecuted all the perpetrators and they are in prison,” he said at a press conference.

Valdez was shot dead in his car on May 15, 2017 in the Sinaloa state capital of Culiacan near the offices of his weekly newspaper Riodoce.

Investigators believe that Lopez Serrano ordered the song because he was upset about information published by Valdez about the internal conflicts of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexico has made several extradition requests for Lopez Serrano, who surrendered to US authorities in July 2017 for drug trafficking and cooperated with him to receive a reduced sentence. At the time, the US Drug Enforcement Administration said that Lopez Serrano “is believed to be the highest-ranking Mexican cartel leader ever to surrender to the United States.”

He was released from prison on parole in 2022.

Gertz said Mexico had asked “many times” for Lopez Serrano to be extradited, but Washington refused because he was “a protected witness” and “he was giving them a lot of information.”

He expressed his hope that with the recent arrest of Lopez Serrano there are “more than enough reasons” for the United States to finally accept Mexico’s request.

Plagued by violence related to drug trafficking, Mexico is one of the countries the most dangerous countries for journalistsmedia groups said.

Reporters Without Borders says more than 150 journalists have been killed in Mexico since 1994 – and 2022 was one of the the deadliest age of all of Mexican journalists, at least 15 were killed.

Media workers always referred to Mexicooften taking direct revenge for their work covering topics such as corruption and the country’s violent drug traffickers.

Recently, in October, the gunmen killed the journalist its Facebook news page was about the western Mexican state of Michoacan. Then less than 24 hours later, an entertainment reporter in the western city of Colima was he was killed inside the restaurant he was in charge.