Mexico is asking the US to extradite the mastermind behind the murder of journalist Javier Valdez

The Mexican government has asked the United States to extradite a high-ranking drug cartel man suspected of murdering prominent journalist Javier Valdez in 2017.

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Gertz added that Mexico had requested his extradition “on countless occasions” but had been rebuffed because U.S. authorities considered López Serrano a “protected witness” who had “given them a lot of information.”

Investigators believe López Serrano ordered Valdez’s killing after he was angered by the journalist’s reporting on infighting within the Sinaloa cartel.

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

After Guzmán’s arrest and extradition to the United States, López Núñez 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 turned himself in to U.S. 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” who had “self-surrendered” in the United States.

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

At the time of his death, Valdez had been reporting on a bloody power struggle within the Sinaloa Cartel pitting 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 shooter 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 killed there since 1994.

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

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

The following day, an entertainment reporter was shot dead in a restaurant she owned in Colima state.