A suspected Mexican cartel chief accused of ordering two headline-grabbing assassinations—including the killing of a beauty influencer during a TikTok livestream and the slaying of a well-known mayor—has been taken into custody.
Mexico’s security and citizen protection secretary, Omar García Harfuch, said at a July 31 press conference that Ramón Ángel Álvarez Ayala was arrested following a months-long intelligence operation aimed at locating the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader, according to Milenio.
García Harfuch said the capture of Álvarez Ayala, widely known as “El R1,” dealt a major blow to “one of the most violent criminal structures in the country,” The Times reported.
How Was Influencer Valeria Márquez Killed?
Authorities believe Álvarez Ayala was behind the May 2025 killing of beauty influencer Valeria Márquez, who was shot inside her salon in Jalisco while broadcasting live on TikTok, García Harfuch said.
Earlier that day, two men had appeared at the salon asking for Márquez by name, according to previous reporting by The Associated Press. One of them was masked and allegedly posed as a delivery worker, claiming they had an expensive gift for her.
Márquez appeared uneasy as she described the encounter to viewers watching her livestream, at one point saying, “Maybe they were going to kill me.”
Minutes later, with the livestream still running, the men came back and asked whether Márquez was in the salon. They gave her a stuffed animal and a bag of coffee before she was fatally shot in the head and chest, the AP reported.
“The aggressor arrived asking if the victim (Márquez) was there. So it appears he didn’t know her,” Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Denis Rodríguez told the outlet at the time. “With that, you can deduce—without jumping to conclusions—that this was a person who was paid. It was obviously someone who came with a purpose.”
García Harfuch added during the press conference that before her death Márquez was romantically linked to Álvarez Ayala’s son Francisco Álvarez, per The Times. Álvarez—who remains at large—had allegedly threatened her on multiple occasions before turning to his father for help carrying out the hit, according to the news outlet. The shooter has also never been captured.
Ayala is also accused of being the mastermind behind the killing of popular Uruapan Mayor Carlos Alberto Rodríguez, who was gunned down in front of his family at a candlelit Day of the Dead festival on Nov. 1, 2025, The Times reported.
The two killings are not believed to be connected, according to ABC 7.
García Harfuch said Álvarez Ayala’s arrest was the culmination of a lengthy investigation that included wiretaps, forensic analysis, witness accounts, financial transfers and phone records, the outlet reported.
