Cartel-Indicted Mexican Governor Retakes Office, Defying DOJ
Cartel-Indicted Mexican Governor Retakes Office, Defying DOJ
The News
Rubén Rocha Moya, the governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state and a wanted man in the United States, returned to office Friday — more than three months after taking leave over a U.S. federal indictment accusing him of collaborating with the Sinaloa cartel.
He is the first sitting Mexican governor ever indicted by the United States, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Today I return to the exercise of my responsibility as governor of Sinaloa with the strength of truth on our side," Rocha Moya, 77, declared on X.
Washington has demanded his arrest and extradition. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has refused, and Rocha Moya says he intends to serve out a term that runs to Oct. 21, 2027.
Timeline
Rocha Moya wins the Sinaloa governorship. U.S. prosecutors would later allege that the cartel faction known as "Los Chapitos," run by sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, provided financial and other support to help him win.
The Justice Department unseals an indictment out of New York charging Rocha Moya and nine other current and former Sinaloa officials with drug trafficking, drug conspiracy and weapons charges, and with collaborating with the Sinaloa cartel. Washington demands Mexico arrest and extradite him.
Sheinbaum, who shares Rocha Moya's ruling MORENA party, declines to comply, saying U.S. authorities have not provided sufficient proof.
Rocha Moya announces a leave of absence to fight what he calls "false and malicious" allegations.
He resumes his duties, saying he cooperated with Mexican authorities to prove his innocence. The Los Angeles Times reported it is unclear what prompted the timing of his return.
Reactions
Rocha Moya denounced the case against him as "false allegations" that are "driven by political and interventionist motivations from the national and foreign ultra-right."
Sheinbaum has said there is no evidence of wrongdoing and has cast the indictment as politically motivated — an effort by the American right to damage MORENA — and as U.S. meddling in Mexico's internal affairs. Breitbart News reported that Sheinbaum skipped her daily news conference Friday, citing flu-like symptoms.
There was no immediate public comment from U.S. officials, the Los Angeles Times reported.
What's Next
No extradition process is underway, and Rocha Moya remains a fugitive in the eyes of the Justice Department while running a Mexican state.
His term is scheduled to end Oct. 21, 2027. Bloomberg reported he has pledged to finish it.
The open question is what Washington does now that Mexico has effectively let an indicted governor walk back into power.
More
Rocha Moya is a longtime stalwart of MORENA and a confidant of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftist who founded the party. That is the bind for Sheinbaum: handing him to U.S. prosecutors would alienate a core part of her base and undercut her pledges to resist U.S. intervention, while protecting him invites the White House's anger.
Sinaloa is a primary corridor for fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs smuggled into the United States, and the indictment essentially describes an entire Mexican state operating under cartel influence. Experts told the Los Angeles Times that Mexican traffickers already in U.S. custody — including two jailed sons of El Chapo — likely supplied information used against the governor.
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