The Mexican government has requested that the United States extradite a top drug cartel official who is thought to have been involved in the 2017 death of prominent journalist Javier Valdez.
In May 2017, Valdez, who won numerous awards for his coverage of the drug trafficking, was shot dead in Culiacán.
According to Mexican officials, Dámaso López Serrano, a former senior member of the Sinaloa drug cartel, ordered the journalist’s murder.
On December 13, López Serrano, now known as “Mini Lic” according to the US Justice Department, was taken into custody in Virginia on suspicion of fentanyl trafficking.
Alejandro Gertz, the attorney general of Mexico, claimed that López Serrano was the “mastermind” behind Valdez’s murder during a press conference this week.
