Regidor Lorena Marisol Rodríguez took office as interim mayor of Tequila, Jalisco, following the arrest of previous mayor Diego Rivera Navarro, accused of extortions and ties to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Rodríguez pledged a 'cleanup' of the local administration, denying knowledge of the corrupt practices. The case is part of Operation Swarm targeting crime infiltration in municipal governments.
Diego Rivera Navarro, mayor of Tequila, Jalisco, was arrested on February 5, 2026, along with three municipal officials as part of Operation Swarm, a federal offensive against organized crime infiltration in local governments. The Federal Attorney General's Office accuses him of leading an extortion ring targeting businessmen and merchants, including the tequila producer José Cuervo, to which 60 million pesos in property taxes were demanded as a pretext for closure. The funds obtained, estimated at least 120 million pesos, were used to settle a debt with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Victim testimonies detail physical assaults by Rivera. On December 11, 2025, in Tequila's Hidalgo Street, the mayor repeatedly slapped a street vendor for not paying an extortion fee, shouting: 'If by tomorrow, when my people pass by you and you don't have the full money, it's going to go worse for you. You heard me!'. Another artisan merchant recounted being beaten, kidnapped, and threatened with handover to the CJNG after failing to pay 20,000 pesos monthly, ordered by Rivera through associates Diego López Ibarra and Juan Manuel Pérez Sosa.
Independent councilwomen reported death threats for not aligning with the mayor's criminal activities, who allegedly paid 40 million pesos annually from public funds to the CJNG. He is also charged with kidnapping rival Morena candidates in 2021 to force resignations and win the election.
On February 8, 2026, in a closed-door session under police watch, the city council appointed Lorena Marisol Rodríguez as interim mayor with six votes in favor, three against, and one abstention. A graduate in Business Administration from the Mario Molina Technological Institute, Rodríguez previously worked at the Secretariat of Social Welfare. In her oath, she stated: 'I grew up in the mountains of Tequila, daughter of peasants, mother and working woman; our municipality lives moments that demand character, unity, and clear direction'. She pledged a 'cleanup' of city hall, saying: 'There are many things to change... There will be a cleanup in the city hall because ultimately the entire municipal structure was being used by the mayor for these purposes'. She denied extortions and distanced herself from her predecessor: 'There was no extortion. I am totally independent'.
However, Rodríguez faces controversy over a May 2025 video showing her at a party singing 'El dueño del palenque', a narcocorrido referencing Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, 'El Mencho', leader of the CJNG. She defended herself: 'My only crime is that I was there. I don't know where the apology for crime is'.
Rivera and his partner Raquel Núñez Bugarin led an unusually luxurious life, with frequent trips to Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, the United States, and other European destinations, which did not match his municipal salary. Rivera is in preventive detention at El Altiplano in Mexico State, awaiting his judicial process.
