The capture was part of the so-called Operation Swarm, a security strategy to combat extortion that in recent months led to the arrest of three other municipal presidents in the State of Mexico.
Diego Rivera Navarro was arrested with three more public servants from Tequila: the director of Public Security, the Director of Cadastre and Property and the Director of Public Works.
The former mayor is accused of leading a corruption network within the city council to extort tequila and beer merchants, including the José Cuervo company, one of the largest tequila companies in the country.
(Diego Rivera Navarro/Facebook)
In December of last year, tequila maker José Cuervo filed a formal complaint for extortion against Rivera Navarro and other municipal officials. The company accused that they were asking for a payment of 60 million pesos in exchange for not closing its Cuervo 1800 plant. However, the company verified that the legal charges for property and licenses were only around one million pesos annually.
The governor of Jalisco himself, Pablo Lemus, publicly denounced this situation two months ago. According to his administration, at least 10 other tequila companies reported being victims of extortion in the municipality and under the same method.
Diego Rivera Navarro is also accused of having ties to the CJNG. In May 2025, he was summoned to testify before the Jalisco Prosecutor’s Office for alleged apology of crime, after presenting the musical group Los Alegres del Barranco, at a concert. At that event, images of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho”, leader of the Jalisco Cartel, were projected.
