Marigolds add splashes of color to the town square in Uruapan, Michoacán, on the eve of the Day of the Dead. It is November 1, 2025, and local families have gathered to admire the lights and the vibrant orange blooms. Mayor Carlos Manzo strolls through the crowd, pausing for selfies and hugs with residents. Then, terror strikes. Six gunshots shatter the momentary calm as the mayor collapses to the ground. This Thursday, the man ultimately responsible for the crime that shocked the nation was captured. Nearly nine months later, authorities have announced the arrest of Ramón Álvarez Ayala—known as “El R1″—the shadowy figure behind the traumatic assassination.
Álvarez Ayala is the leader of “Los Rs,” one of the most violent cells of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which operates across various parts of Michoacán and Jalisco. He was apprehended in Atotonilco, a municipality located about 100 kilometers east of Guadalajara, Jalisco.
The faction began gaining ground in the criminal landscape several years ago; Federal Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch traces its origins to 2012—the same year Álvarez Ayala was previously arrested. A familiar face in Mexico’s prison system, “El R1” spent a decade behind bars before being released four years ago by court order—a controversial decision that helped spur the judicial reform enacted during the administration of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024).
The operation to capture the criminal resulted in a midday confrontation. Security agents and special forces military personnel encountered Álvarez Ayala’s bodyguards in Atotonilco; the guards opened fire upon realizing the authorities’ presence.
García Harfuch reported that at least one of the criminal’s bodyguards was killed in the ensuing shootout. With this arrest, authorities have scored a victory against the most elusive figure connected to the mayor’s murder over the past nine months. Authorities have detained a total of 31 people linked to the killing, ranging from low-level organization members to city officials and the Michoacán mayor’s own bodyguards. The mayor’s widow, Grecia Quiroz, stated a couple of weeks after the murder that her suspicions extended to everyone. “I suspect everyone; I trust no one,” she asserted in an interview with *La Saga*.
