In 1967 Serrano was ordered to jail by the First Lady of Mexico, Guadalupe Borja, for daring to serenade Borja's husband, then Mexican President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz at Los Pinos, the presidential residence. It was rumored that Serrano and Díaz Ordaz had a short lived romantic affair. Neither confirmed the rumor until 1998, when Serrano defended the late president, claiming they had lived together, and denying she ever ordered him to attack the students in the 1968 massacre of Tlatelolco.