Francisco Álvarez, son of criminal leader Ramón Álvarez Ayala—alias “El R1”—has declared his innocence regarding the murder of influencer Valeria Márquez.
In an interview with journalist Luis Chaparro, Álvarez said he feels frightened and under attack, noting that he is no longer living a normal life. “I had to step away from my normal life because of the accusations leveled against me—unjustly, in my view. It is a very serious accusation being made against me, yet I am completely innocent; I have absolutely nothing to do with it,” he asserted.
He confirmed that Márquez had been his partner but stated there was no reason why he would have wanted to kill her.
He said he met Valeria Márquez in 2021, when she was working as a promotional model in Guadalajara nightclubs; after crossing paths a couple of times, they exchanged phone numbers and social media details. After talking for a while, a relationship developed two or three years later.
“It was around the time I decided to ask her out… we lived together—well, she lived with her friends. I met her in 2021, but things got serious in 2024. She lived with her friends, then moved in with another friend closer to where I lived, and later moved in with me. Eventually, things didn’t work out between us—the usual stuff in any relationship; I think all couples have problems and so on. We broke up, and from January to April, I didn’t hear anything from her. I saw her again in April 2025 at the Tepa festivities; we crossed paths again, resumed communication and conversations—intimate moments, too—and then the murder happened,” he explained.
He noted that after their breakup, they saw each other again and, during conversations, discussed the possibility of rekindling their romantic relationship. Later in the interview, Álvarez stated that the accusation against him is a political matter. “The government has already made its statements; they arrested my dad and are accusing him—unjustly, in my view—(of Carlos Manzo’s murder), because there is no evidence pointing to him. I believe they brought up the Valeria case to hurt his position—not because they wanted to target me, though perhaps they do want to hurt him, but mainly because they’ve already made a statement they can’t back down from. I think that when the government opens a case, they want to close it as quickly as possible.”
