“El Doble R,” leader of the CJNG, allegedly linked to the femicide of Valeria Márquez and sanctioned by the US

This Wednesday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury sanctioned five leaders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), including Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, alias “El Doble R,” who was accused of being involved in the femicide of influencer Valeria Márquez.

On Tuesday, May 13, Márquez was broadcasting live on social media from her beauty salon located in western Zapopan, Jalisco, when a suspected delivery man entered the establishment and shot her at least four times.

One day after the content creator and model was murdered, media outlets named Ricardo Ruiz Velasco as the prime suspect because he had allegedly been in a relationship with Márquez for months. El Doble R is identified as the leader of a cell of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel called Grupo Élite, and has been linked to several high-profile murders in Mexico for more than a decade.

According to the Treasury Department, Ruiz Velasco has also been responsible for the criminal organization’s publicity and propaganda. Among the main murders to which he is linked are the attack on Mexican police officers and the murder of a Jalisco state official, which is believed to be the 2013 murder of Jesús Gallegos Álvarez, the then Secretary of Tourism.

Ruiz Velasco was born on September 13, 1984, in the state of Jalisco. Since 2020, El Doble R has been identified by Mexican authorities as responsible for disseminating videos on social media aimed at intimidating rival groups of the CJNG.