Rafael Alvarez, alias ‘R2’, was captured with intelligence shared by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
Printed On 9 Nov 2026
Authorities in Mexico have introduced the arrest of an alleged chief within the Jalisco New Technology Cartel (CJNG), one of many nation’s two essential felony teams.
Rafael Alvarez, alias “R2”, who’s suspected of heading CJNG’s “Los Rs” cell, was arrested in an operation within the metropolis of Zapopan, within the Guadalajara metropolitan space, on Sunday, because of intelligence shared by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in keeping with Mexico’s Navy.
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“This cell is especially linked to extortion, drug trafficking, murder, unlawful deprivation of liberty, kidnapping and assaults towards authorities,” Mexico’s Safety Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch mentioned.
He added that victims of the group’s extortion included “enterprise homeowners and avocado producers”.
Harfuch mentioned on X that Alvarez was wounded in a shootout that broke out through the arrest and is receiving medical care.
Alvarez has an impressive arrest warrant in Mexico for aggravated murder and one other warrant for extradition to the US, Harfuch additionally mentioned.
Authorities, together with these from Mexico’s Nationwide Intelligence Heart, additionally took half within the operation, which captured 19 different individuals.
Alvarez is linked to the killing of a minimum of 19 individuals, together with final 12 months’s homicide of Carlos Manzo, the favored crime-fighting mayor of Uruapan in Mexico’s avocado-producing Michoacan state.
The CJNG, which operates within the states of Jalisco and Michoacan, was designated a “overseas terrorist organisation” by the US authorities in 2025 and is thought for violent techniques and assaults on authorities.
It competes with the Sinaloa Cartel for drug trafficking into the US.
Because the loss of life of the CJNG founder, Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, in a army operation in February, a number of of its prime leaders have been apprehended.
However there are nonetheless stories of kidnapping for ransom within the areas the place the cartels are lively.
An estimated 134,000 individuals are believed to be missing across Mexico, with Jalisco recording the nation’s highest numbers of disappearances.
