- El Chapo鈥檚 arrest in January 2016 triggered a war for control of the Sinaloa cartel, pitting two of his sons against another faction led by Lopez
MEXICO CITY: Who ordered the murder of acclaimed Mexican journalist Javier Valdez?
The former right-hand man to Joaquin 鈥淓l Chapo鈥� Guzman says it was the kingpin鈥檚 sons. But a friend and colleague of the late reporter rejected that theory Thursday.
Damaso Lopez Nunez, El Chapo鈥檚 top lieutenant in the Sinaloa drug cartel, said Wednesday as he testified against his former boss in New York that Guzman鈥檚 sons had ordered the May 2017 murder of Valdez.
But the evidence actually points to Lopez鈥檚 own son, according to Ismael Bojorquez, the editor of Riodoce, the newspaper he co-founded with Valdez in the Sinaloa state capital, Culiacan.
Valdez, a respected crime reporter and expert on Mexico鈥檚 multi-billion-dollar drug trafficking industry, published an article shortly before his death in which Lopez鈥檚 son, Damaso Lopez Serrano, was referred to as 鈥淪ir Nobody.鈥�
鈥淭hat enraged Damaso鈥檚 son, and that鈥檚 what led to the order鈥� to kill Valdez, Bojorquez told Radio Centro in Mexico.
鈥淒amaso is protecting his own son from facing trial for Valdez鈥檚 murder.鈥�
El Chapo鈥檚 arrest in January 2016 triggered a war for control of the Sinaloa cartel, pitting two of his sons against another faction led by Lopez.
Lopez 鈥� a former prison director who once helped El Chapo escape from jail, then teamed up with him 鈥� was himself arrested in Mexico City in May 2017.
His son turned himself into the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) two months later, and both have been cooperating with the American authorities in exchange for reduced sentences.
After his arrest, Lopez told Mexican authorities that the order to kill Valdez came from within his organization, but that he did not know who had given it.
Valdez, who was 50 when he was gunned down in broad daylight outside his newspaper鈥檚 offices, was a winner of the prestigious International Press Freedom Award and a longtime contributor to Agence France-Presse.