Mini Lic Responds to Chapitos Letter

Borderland Beat Contributors

An email allegedly written by Damaso López Serrano, alias “El Mini Lic”, was sent to media outlets. The communication rebuts the recent letter from Sinaloa Cartel’s los Chapitos and accuses them of a number of homicides, most notably of the murder of Riodoce’s editor Javier Valdez.

The Email 

On May 14, 2023, Borderland Beat, along with a number of other media outlets, such as Zeta Tijuana and Riodoce, received an email from someone who claims to be Damaso López Serrano, a long time rival of los Chapitos. 

His communication is meant to be read as a direct response to the letter los Chapitos allegedly sent to Milenio news. Our coverage of this letter can be read in this previous story.

Aside from Borderland Beat, other recipients of the email include notable Mexican news outlets, such as Univision, Riodoce and Proceso; as well as notable US outlets, such as CNN and the New York Times. The sender also sent the email to multiple cartel-centric new sites and blogs.

It read as follows, after being translated to English:

Through this email, I send this letter to the media, where I narrate a series of events carried out by the sons of Joaquín Guzmán Loera (Los Chapitos), who in recent days have wanted to distance themselves from their illegal activities through letters and you the media. 

You all know perfectly well that you will receive threats when you publish this letter, but I trust that the federal government and the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador will give you the necessary protection to carry out your work, which is to communicate to the people. Perhaps you will question the validity of this document, but soon I will be giving proof of the veracity of my words.

I remain at your service.

Damaso López Serrano.

Its important to note that El Mini Lic is the son of the famous cartel lawyer Damaso López Núñez, alias “El Licenciado”, who worked as a longtime partner with El Chapo during his heyday. 

Mini Lic eventually became part of a rival Sinaloa Cartel faction which challenged Chapo’s sons, los Chapitos, for control of the group. Mini Lic later turned himself in to the US in July 2017. He pled guilty in US federal court to charges of “organizing the transportation and distribution of thousands of kilograms of controlled substances, including methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.” After serving 5 years in prison, Mini Lic was released in September 2022. 

Attached to the Mini Lic email were six images of Spanish text, shown below:

Note: This article is actively being edited and the English translation will be refined throughout the night. 

The purpose of this press release is to refute several points of the letter which was sent by los Chapitos to Milenio news.

First of all, I am going to give you some background. Whenever they [los Chapitos] face a problem that is out of their control or they cannot manipulate, they use the sending of letters to disassociate themselves from their actions, lying is their main method. They lie in order to incriminate someone else, to try to look innocent and to paint themselves as the victims of events that they are responsible for.

The first time, in 2016, when they ambushed the military at the northern exit of Culiacán, remember that they sent a letter disavowing themselves from the massacre, even though it was well known that it was done by Pancho Chimal and Güero Ranas [Chapitos gunmen] among others. They were the true masterminds of the act, ordered by you.

The second time, in February 2017, you sent a letter in which you blamed my father for having orchestrated an ambush against you and Mr. Ismael Zambada - something that everyone knew was false since there was never such an ambush.

This is the game you have always played, throw out your stones, and hide your hand. I can give you hundreds of examples of this type of action in which you later denied your participation, instead blaming others.

Between 2015 - 2016, you blamed everything on your uncle, Aureliano [Chapo’s brother, El Guano]. 

You said that the deaths that occurred in Culiacán and Mazatlán were ordered by him, that he was in charge of the drug dealing, that he was responsible for everything, when we all knew that you were the guilty ones and that you only blamed Guano so that you could continue committing crimes, abusing people and hiding behind the blame put on your uncle.

The murder of Javier Valdez [the editor of Riodoce newspaper] was ordered by you. You threatened and pressured him not to publish the interview he did with my father. 

First, on Saturday, you asked Javier not to write the article [covering his interview]. Riodoce closed out their weekly edition on the previous Friday, and on Saturday, you contacted him. They asked him not to write about it, but he told them that he had already written the story.

Then they told him not to publish it, he told them ‘I can't do that’. And then, he told them that the newspaper was already at the printer's [facilities, being printed]. 

At midnight, they asked him to sell them every copy of the newspaper [which had been printed], which he also refused to do. 

The next day an armed group arrived at the newspaper's distribution facility. 

In the end, they didn't take the copies. What they did instead was follow each one of the distributors and as they arrived at each one of the stores where the newspaper was sold, they bought every copy. It was like a seizure. 

Then they threatened Javier Valdez again and yet he still published the report a second time. 

I know this because Javier told us and also because Ismael Bojorquez, founder of Riodoce and Javier's partner has stated his. He and Javier's wife know well that the Chapitos were the ones to blame for Javier's death, but they have been threatened to say that I was the one responsible for his death.

They fabricated evidence, corrupted and manipulated the entire judicial process in order to make me look guilty. But as the Senor says, ‘Sooner or later the truth will come out.’ And it will be known who the real perpetrators were.

Now in more recent days, you had fentanyl pills planted in various houses in Culiacan and placed an image on them that alluded to Mr. Ismael Zambada, in order to blame him for being responsible for the production of fentanyl. Even though it was you, yourselves, who planted all that evidence that corresponded to pills, presses, and logos with the image of an individual with a hat, as well as notebooks with information.

You provided the locations [of these fentanyl labs with fake evidence] to the government so that they could go and seize the property. 

Unfortunately for you, I know you very well. I know about your crimes. I know about your ambition, your past traumas. I know the way you think and act. I know about your business, your people, the mistakes you have made. 

In the same way that I know you well, I know that you know me very well too. You know that I will expose your lies just as I did the last time I saw you in January 2017, in Portezuelo.

They say they are not the head of the CDS, but I can assure you that they are, I have evidence that shows that half of the CDS works under Iván Guzmán, Alfredo Guzmán, Joaquín Guzmán and Ovidio Guzmán.

Of course there are a number of small and large groups that operate under the umbrella of the [Sinaloa] cartel, but all of them are accountable to YOU and they operate under your orders. 

The reason why I know this, and I assure you this is true, is because many of them used to work for me. And now, as you boast in corridos that you, yourselves, have composed [the lyrics of], you say that my men now they work under your orders.

You, yourselves, have told everyone that they can use your name or your father's name and that you can do whatever you want with it. But that, at the end of the day, you are the real bosses and that when you need them, they have to come to do the job, whatever it may be.

You talk about the right for the press to investigate your letter’s claims, but tell me, what right to investigate do you give to all the people you have threatened, executed and disappeared unjustly? Men, women, guilty and the innocent. Your motto has always been to grab them now and ask questions later!

Remember that I know you well. When you talk about social media, there’s no one better than you [at these things] since you’re so addicted to social media.  Iván and

Alfredo. 

Remember how you couldn’t get off your iPads when you attended meetings? You couldn’t even pay attention because you were so immersed in checking social media, all while you criticized everyone [for their social media posts], most especially Chino Antrax. 

Ivan, you used [to go by the handle] "El Relojero" on Instagram, where you uploaded only pictures of watches. Later, you began copying the way the CJNG would publicize their actions with videos. 

You even created pages to help make the "La Chapiza" name famous because you didn’t like that Jalisco was being mentioned more than Sinaloa.

That's right, there are countless corridos and songs that musicians compose and there’s truth in them. There are also some [songs] with false information, but most of the information they have is true and yet they [Chapitos] say that the musicians do it without authorization.

Don't you remember, Ivan, when they arrested your dad in 2014? 

How you ordered Barajas from Enigma Norteño to compose the corrido called "El Señor Iván" and also songs from Código FN, where they said that you were your dad's successor. 

Ask Barajas how I told him not to mention us [Damaso Sr and Jr] in that corrido, but he told me that you were pressuring him because you wanted everyone to know that you were your father's successor, when you and I know the truth very well. That was not the truth and I have the evidence to prove it. I will show it in due time.

Iván, what you really like is to attract attention. You love that the media talks about you, as long as what is said is that you are the most powerful and that everything that is exalting you. That's why you named yourself "The King of Cocaine", but now that they say that they are hunting you, you don't like that title anymore.

Supposed experts in drug trafficking give their opinion about you, without having any idea of what they are talking about, sure. And although I do not consider myself an expert, I can assure you that I know you well and I know exactly how you operate. The people have always seen and know it, but they don’t speak out because they are afraid of you since you have spread your campaign of fear everywhere.

The incalculable benefits for the people and companies you talk about, are nothing compared to the benefits you get, because you profit off of everything. 

Do you remember the casino you put in Baja California Sur? And, how you corrupted officials into letting you install a very famous casino in Culiacan? All because you knew the owners [of the casino] would need your protection [to operate it in Culiacan]. 

You also charge a fee on the palenque [rooster fighting ring] in Culiacán. The palenque is managed by Iván's compadre - you already know who. Likewise, the drop by drop extortion method that they impose in Culiacán continues, charging the farmers, the collection of fees from the farmers, and the extortion that you imposed in Culiacán.

The following are some of the activities that generate ‘profit’ [for them]: 

Fees on car junkyards [chopshops]

Fees on taquerias and cars

Control over and fees on the sale of pirated movies and music

Fees on places of prostitution [brothels]

Fees on the sale of stolen cigarettes

Gas pipeline theft 

Fees on coin-operated vending machines

& an endless list of other activities where "profits" are generated.

Those who are harmed are the people who have an honest business or job and who have to put up with you abusing them because of your excessive and uncontrollable greed.

You talk about being prudent. As the saying goes, "tell me what you like to brag about being and I will tell you what you lack". 

You were very prudent, Ivan, to do what you did with Hugo Ruben Castellanos Jimenez, just because your girlfriend didn’t win the Miss World beauty pageant. You ordered El 200 and El 300 to kidnap Hugo Ruben at the nightclub where the pageant was being held. They took him out by force and left him executed inside a van.

They say they have never worked with fentanyl, but don't you remember in 2016 what you did to the Monárrez brothers at the bus station in Culiacán? All because they were making large quantities of fentanyl and they didn’t want to work under you. 

At the end of the day you stole their formula and their [fentanyl] cooking method. Do you also not remember that in 2017 and 2018, El Panú and José Ángel called a meeting in a restaurant in Culiacán which told many young people to introduce fentanyl pills into their supply and present them as M30, but not tell them that they were made of fentanyl. 

What did they tell them? That this [fentanyl] was the business of the future. That it was much better than cocaine, crystal meth and heroin. They invited each person in attendance to start looking for clients and they gave each one 5000 [fentanyl] pills.

And what about the labs they had in the mangroves of Conchal, also on the Navolato side, and in the Sanalona area. Did they forget that they sent El 300 to collect the fee for each lab that was in Sinaloa? They told them that they had to pay them with product since Sinaloa was your territory and therefore, whoever wanted to operate would have to pay a fee. Have you already forgotten how you wanted to monopolize the fentanyl market? 

Maybe now, since Ivan seems to have Alzheimer's [he has become forgetful], he can’t remember the words he frequently said, which were "We have to get fentanyl in there. We are going to flood the streets of America with drug addicts."

The story of the baseball bat. Remember at El Bravo's ranch, in the Las Piedritas community, when the boy was tied up in the bathroom under the shower? And inside the bathroom there was only Barbarino, El Juancho taking notes, and El Bravo. 

Alfredo and Iván were there torturing the guy. They pulled out his teeth with pliers, cut off his ear and gave him electric shocks. Outside, tied to the trees, were El Guacho's gunmen and Ovidio was beating him. Ovidio was beating one of them with a baseball bat, and it was Iván who executed El Guacho.

Or what about the story of the tigers. You may not be the owner of the tigers but it is well known that El Nini is the one who has those kinds of animals. And they [Nini’s tigers] were the ones used to commit those crimes, on your orders. since you are the bosses.

And why do you make fools of yourselves? You know that not everything that happens remains in investigative records. There are many missing people that do not appear in any record, but just so that you can look for them, here are some attacks which were ordered by you:

During the first week of May in 2008, Federal Police agents were ambushed in downtown Culiacan. If you remember the gunmen were in 2 Cherokees; one of them was blue and armored.

In September 2016, they ambushed military personnel at the north exit of Culiacán to nab Kevin, who days later appeared executed in Navolato. [His execution was] also on your orders, since the plaza was hot [lots of law enforcement pressure], they opted to get rid of him [Kevin] so that the government would not find him alive and so he could not open his mouth. 

If you remember, as a result of this, they had to hand over Pancho Chimal to the Navy, so that the government would decrease the intensity with which it was pursuing them.

There are records from 2017 which show municipal, ministerial, and state police officers who were executed on his orders. Also in 2017, at a Carl's Junior in Culiacan, they kidnapped the federal policeman who had the codename ‘Cobra’. There are many more on the list [of executions] that, in due time, I will make known.

The claim that they were never involved in the war against Los Zetas? That is a vile lie. Of course they were at war against Los Zetas, and against the Beltráns, and against the Carrillos, and against the Mazátlecos, and against Los Rusos, and against me and many others. 

And of course they would like to dominate the whole country. That is why they sent a group [of their men] to San Miguel Topilejo, in Mexico City, and also groups to the state of Morelos, also to the state of Guerrero, to the state of Quintana Roo, and that is why posters and banners with messages alluding to "la Chapiza and the minors" commonly appear in Durango, Chihuahua, Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur, etc. 

And I am not lying, the proof is right there. They were the ones arrested in Topilejo, who had the badges with the mouse [El Raton] logo on them.

They are not the ones in danger. They are the danger [for others]. 

And as they say that ‘Each one faces his own’, but you are the ones who involve everyone in wars that do not belong in. You have los Salazars in Sonora fighting other organizations, contrary to what you said [in the letter], and you do this in other states as well. 

It is not evident that you actually want the authorities to act truthfully, and in accordance with the law, since you have always done the opposite. It’s better to say that you want the authorities to act under your orders and for your benefit. 

Why are you so surprised that the judges and magistrates don’t treat you fairly? You keep threatening judges, magistrates and prosecutors into doing your bidding. Just as you did in February 2021 when you had agents from the Attorney General's Office shot in Culiacan.

I not only question their entire version of how things actually are [asserted in their letter], but I am discrediting [their version] completely, since I know them and I know the truth. I know how they behave, always causing violent acts, and then denying those same acts and blaming others.

Who produces the fentanyl, then? You buy pure [already-made] fentanyl and you also produce it. You regularly buy the raw material and manufacture it in Sinaloa, to give it the ‘fentanyl finish’. You are producing it in the form of powder and tablets for its commercialization. Generally they buy them from Asia. 

How do they get them to the U.S.? By means of buses, cargo trucks, small planes, boats, parcel delivery companies, and other methods which deliver fentanyl to the US border, and then they bring it in through [US port of entries] with cars with hidden compartments, or through blind mules, or cargo trucks, or people who cross the checkpoints on foot, etc.

You [Chapitos] are the target of a well-justified persecution. So, don't cry about it. Face your problems. As they say ‘It’s time to grow up and learn to be men.’ 

To refresh your memory a little, I hope you have not forgotten the meeting we had in August 2014, at the little ranch in La Presita, where the 5 of us: Ivan, Alfredo, Joaquin, Ovidio and I, planned to turn ourselves in. 

Mr. Humberto Loya took us to the lawyers who had connections with US prosecutors. Do you remember that everyone wanted to turn themselves in and what was our planned deal? I still have the papers from that meeting, where everyone signed so that the US prosecutors could prove that it was true that we wanted to do this. I also remember the ‘other’ that was talked about in that meeting, more will be said later.

I hope this letter reaches the right people.

I remain at your service.