Ramón Álvarez Ayala, alias ‘R1’, is one of the highest-ranking men within the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), leading a cell that operates in Michoacán.
R1 was first arrested in 2012, along with his brothers Rafael, alias ‘R2’, and Jesús Santiago Álvarez Ayala; however, he was released in 2022 due to a lack of evidence in the investigations against him for crimes such as kidnapping and organized crime.
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias ‘El Mencho’, appointed him head of operations in the metropolitan area of Jalisco, and later, in Michoacán, establishing his stronghold in Uruapan, where he created the Los Cannabis cell.
This armed group, which operated under the orders of the Jalisco cartel, was one of the targets Carlos Manzo faced during his time as mayor.
The former mayor of Uruapan led operations in the mountainous region of the municipality, both on the ground and in the air, but it was two months before his assassination that he dealt them a major blow: at a police checkpoint, without firing a single shot, the municipal police arrested René Belmonte Aguilar, alias “El Rhino,” their plaza boss and an active member of this organization.
The mayor boasted about the arrest; he showed the plaza boss with his head covered by his own shirt, leaving part of his torso bare. He was in the back of a police truck, along with an accomplice.
Manzo displayed the money, technological equipment, and a cell phone, as well as the weapons he had in his possession, during a live broadcast.
