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R2 arrest puts CJNG's alleged extortion network in focus

Óscar Balderas examines the suspected operator's financial role and asks whether the capture will lead to a lasting prosecution.

Channel: MILENIO ·

MexicoStory of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

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Detienen a el 'R2' en Zapopan: duro golpe al CJNG | Código Negro

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0:30Balderas says the brothers were arrested in 2012, sentenced in 2016 and released in 2022.
2:15He explains why federal authorities historically placed R1 and R2 close to CJNG leader El Mencho.
3:00Balderas attributes the group's financial and weapons capacity to extortion and fentanyl trafficking.
5:41The discussion raises, but does not establish, a possible connection between R2 and Carlos Manzo's killing.
6:12Balderas argues that the capture must lead to firm sentences or extradition proceedings.

Extortion money, not just weapons, helps explain the importance of the suspected cartel operator known as R2, journalist Óscar Balderas argues following his arrest in Zapopan, in western Mexico.

In Mexico's MILENIO news broadcast, Balderas tells presenter Elisa Alanís that the group associated with R2 and his brother, R1, accumulated substantial resources through extortion in Jalisco and Michoacán. He also attributes its importance to U.S. authorities to fentanyl trafficking into the United States.

The Código Negro segment identifies R2 as Rafael, a suspected logistics operator for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG. According to the report, the Mexican Navy led the operation in which he was captured, and he remains in intensive care after suffering a gunshot wound.

Balderas describes a man who had not retreated to an inaccessible mountain hideout but continued socializing in Zapopan. He argues that this visibility reflected the protection R2 enjoyed, without establishing who provided it.

The journalist places the brothers' importance within the cartel's history, saying federal authorities once described them as the right-hand men of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho. He also distinguishes the Navy's operational role from the political recognition received by federal security secretary Omar García Harfuch.

The discussion then turns to the killing of Carlos Manzo, the independent mayor of Uruapan known for opposing organized crime. Balderas says R1 was arrested three months earlier over a suspected connection to that killing. Whether R2 was also involved is presented as an unanswered question, not an established finding. He cites Manzo's widow, Grecia Quiroz, who has argued that the assassination could not have been planned solely at street level.

For Balderas, the decisive test comes after the raid. He says the brothers were arrested in 2012, sentenced in 2016 and released in 2022. His conclusion is that intelligence work must produce a sustainable prosecution, a firm sentence or extradition proceedings, rather than end with the announcement of a capture.