14 Sitting Mayors Arrested, 10 Allegedly Tied to the CJNG, Sinaloa Cartel or La Familia: Mexico’s ‘Operación Enjambre’ Tally — and the 6 Cartel States It Hasn’t Touched
Mexico’s federal “Operación Enjambre” (Operation Swarm) has arrested 14 sitting mayors since November 2024. Ten of them are allegedly tied to the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel or La Familia Michoacana, all three of which the U.S. has designated as terrorist organizations. The count comes from a tally published by Expansión Política on Oct. 5, 2026. The outlet says more than 110 local officials have been arrested in all, including ex-mayors, police chiefs, councilmembers and treasurers, across eight states.
The mayors and the cartels they are accused of serving
According to Expansión, five of the 14 were allegedly linked to the CJNG. They are:
- Rosember López Roblero of Bella Vista, Chiapas, arrested in January 2025. Investigators say his staff demanded 50,000 to 100,000 pesos from families displaced by violence.
- José Ascensión Murguía of Teuchitlán, Jalisco, accused of failing to act on CJNG training at the Rancho Izaguirre.
- Ernesto Cruz of Cintalapa, Chiapas.
- Diego Rivera of Tequila, Jalisco, and Miguel Sánchez Altamirano, “Quetu,” of Juchitán, Oaxaca, both accused of running extortion networks from office.
Expansión says the other five are tied to the Sinaloa Cartel or La Familia Michoacana. They include Amanalco, State of Mexico, Mayor María Elena Martínez Robles, linked to La Familia leader “El Fresa,” who Expansión says was sentenced to 70 years for the murder of a town official and his driver. It also names three Morelos officials it ties to the Sinaloa Cartel: Agustín Toledano of Atlatlahucan, Irving Sánchez Zavala of Yecapixtla and Jesús Corona Damián of Cuautla. Mexico’s security ministry, the SSPC, said Corona Damián was arrested in Acapulco on an organized-crime warrant.
Milenio’s report on the 14 mayors arrested:
Six states Enjambre hasn’t touched
Expansión cites security analyst Alberto Guerrero, who points out that the operation has left out Sinaloa, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Baja California, Guerrero and Michoacán. He calls them “the states with the highest rates of homicide and sustained extortion in the country.” Three of them border the U.S. Gerardo Álvarez of México Unido Contra la Delincuencia told the outlet the effort should move up to governors.
Where the count may differ
A photo caption in the same Expansión piece says 13 mayors rather than 14. Its tally runs through September, so it does not name Suchiapa, Chiapas, Mayor Jorge Lorenzo Lara Cordero, whose Oct. 3 arrest we reported.
Sources
- Expansión Política (Lidia Arista), “El saldo de la Operación Enjambre: así operaban los alcaldes detenidos para el CJNG y Cártel de Sinaloa,” Oct. 5, 2026
- SSPC, “Autoridades federales detienen en Guerrero al presidente municipal de Cuautla,” May 30, 2026
- Photos: Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), via Infobae, June 2, 2026. Video: Milenio.
Reported Oct. 5, 2026, from Expansión’s tally and the official statement listed above. The Narco Blog has not independently verified each case. Every official named is presumed innocent unless convicted; only Martínez Robles is reported to have been sentenced.