Mexican naval special forces captured a man authorities describe as a leader of a Jalisco cartel cell on Sunday, in an operation near Guadalajara that was built partly on intelligence shared by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The suspect and a naval officer were wounded in a shootout during the arrest.
The Navy said its special operations unit carried out the operation in Zapopan, in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, working with the federal security ministry. The intelligence came from Mexico’s National Intelligence Center and from information shared by the DEA. The suspect, identified by authorities as Rafael “N” and known by the alias “R2”, was detained along with 19 other people.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch described him as a key leader of “Los Rs”, a cell of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as the CJNG, operating in the states of Jalisco and Michoacán. García Harfuch said the cell is linked by authorities to extortion, drug trafficking, homicide, kidnapping and attacks against officials. He said the suspect faces an outstanding Mexican arrest warrant for aggravated homicide and a separate warrant for extradition to the United States, where the DEA says he is wanted on federal drug and firearms charges. The DEA said in its own post that intelligence it shared helped Mexican authorities locate “R2”.
Authorities also allege that he is linked to the killing of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan in Michoacán, and to at least 19 killings in total. Those are allegations by the authorities. He has not been convicted of any of them, and no response from him or from the group has appeared in the reporting. The security minister described the information released so far as preliminary.
The CJNG is one of Mexico’s two dominant cartels and competes with the Sinaloa Cartel for the drug trade into the United States. Washington designated it a foreign terrorist organization in 2025. Sunday’s arrest is the second major Zapopan capture in recent weeks, after security forces detained another alleged CJNG leader there, and it underlines how much of Mexico’s campaign against the cartel now runs on shared intelligence with the United States.
Transparency note: This story is based on Reuters reporting of the Mexican Navy’s and the security minister’s statements and the DEA’s post. Mexican authorities withhold suspects’ surnames by custom, which is why the detainee is identified as Rafael “N”.
