US Denies Mexico's Request to Extradite "Mini Lic" Dámaso López Serrano

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The United States Government has denied the extradition to Mexico of Dámaso López Serrano, "El Mini Lic," to try him for the murder of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas. Javier was the founder/editor of Ríodoce and was killed on May 15, 2017, in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

Since 2020, the Attorney General of the Republic of Mexico obtained an arrest warrant against him and requested his extradition. He was released in 2022 after a US Federal Court in Southern California determined that he had cooperated and had already served his sentence in a maximum security prison in the United States. "El Mini Lic" spent 72 months in prison.

According to information from the FGR, the US government denied the extradition, arguing that there was no need to extradite him. After the refusal, the Prosecutor's Office resubmitted another formal request for extradition, so the process has begun again and they are awaiting a response.

"Without a doubt, we will demand, although we trust that the United States government respects the agreement between the two countries and extradite this person," said Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo, head of FEADLE stated prior to the latest decision.

In a letter published yesterday by Borderland Beat, Dámaso denies ordering Javier's murder, placing that responsibility on the Chapitos:

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.

Javier Valdez Cárdenas was killed 6 years ago today in Culiacan, Sinaloa. 

In January 2020, after the judge in Mexico issued the arrest warrant, through his lawyer, "Mini Lic" sent a statement in which he assures that he had no participation in the murder. “These accusations are baseless and reckless. I had no participation or role in the death of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas. I am sure that I can prove my innocence, however, I am afraid that this accusation is totally manipulated to affect me and try to extradite me to Mexico,” he pointed out.

As "Mini Lic" plead guilty in 2018, admitting his crimes and involvement in the Sinaloa Cartel to a federal judge including having a hand in more than a dozen drug murders and 20 kidnappings. It was unlikely he would have been extradited back to Mexico, especially with the recent indictments against the sons of "El Chapo" and the need for testimony against them in possible upcoming trials should Ovidio be extradited and his brothers also see US justice in the future. His father had testified against "El Chapo" in 2019 and against Chapo's wife Emma Colonel as well.

During the trial of Jesús Raúl Beltrán León, US prison officials were forced to move "El Mini Lic" due to a threat by León to have him killed for cooperating. Leon ended up pleading guilty and the hit on Damaso, supposedly would have taken place while he was in custody in Chicago, never took place.

Sources: Riodoce, Borderland Beat, Borderland Beat, Borderland Beat, ABC 7

A graphic by HEARST