Israel Davila
Correspondent
La Jornada Newspaper
Saturday, February 7, 2026, p. 3
Almoloya de Juárez, Méx., A control judge assigned to the justice center of the Altiplano federal prison yesterday decreed the justified preventive detention against Diego Rivera, Morenista mayor of Tequila, Jalisco, who was detained on Thursday by federal forces, accused of being involved with organized crime groups.
Yesterday the hearing was held to charge charges where the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic accused him of the crimes of organized crime and operations with resources of illicit origin for the handling of money obtained illegally from extortion of businessmen and tequila producers, as well as aggravated kidnapping, since the mayor had ordered the deprivation of liberty of a Morena pre-candidate and his substitute, so that they would renounce the nomination and thus the party could grant the candidacy to a person related to its interests.
Along with Rivera, Juan Manuel Pérez Sosa, director of Public Security of Tequila, and Juan Gabriel Toribio Villarreal, director of the municipality’s Cadastre, were also charged with organized crime.
According to the file, the three are responsible for having plagiarized on March 24, 2021, at the La Posta restaurant in Tequila, the then pre-candidates Guillermo Cordero García and Julio Alejandro García Gutiérrez, in order to force them to resign and thus be able to promote Toribio Villarreal, who would guarantee loyalty to Rivera and the Jalisco cartel. New Generation (CJNG)with whom they had a close relationship.
Once the victims were raised They were forced to sign their resignation from the candidacy, a fact that was witnessed by a notary from Jalisco, who worked under the orders of the CJNG.
The crime of aggravated kidnapping was only charged to Diego Rivera and Juan Manuel Pérez Sosa, since they had ordered the kidnapping of a couple of Tequila merchants, after refusing to pay extortion to continue selling their products.
During the hearing, Rivera reserved his right to testify and his team of lawyers requested the duplication of the constitutional term to resolve his legal situation. For this reason, it will be until next Tuesday when it will be decided whether Mayor Tequila and co-defendants are linked to criminal proceedings.
With information from Gustavo Castillo
