Mexican governor accused by US of drug trafficking steps down amid investigation
The governor of a Mexican state accused by the United States of having ties to drug trafficking said on Friday that he would temporarily step aside for an investigation.
Sinaloa Gov. Ruben Rocha Moya and nine others they were charged by the US Department of Justice this week for working with the notorious Sinaloa company to distribute “a large amount” of drugs in the United States.
Rocha Moya, a member of the party of the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, to the left of Morena, criticized these allegations as false and cruel. At least three of the indicted officials are related to Morena.
“I inform the people of Sinaloa that today I sent to the Congress of State my request for a temporary leave of absence from the position of governor,” he said in a YouTube video late Friday.
Sheinbaum said On Thursday that Mexico would return the officials to the US only if it was given “irrefutable evidence” of cartel connections. The president said it was the first time the US had publicly brought drug-trafficking charges against a sitting governor or other high-ranking official.
Rocha Moya, who is close to the leftist former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has become the governor of the northwestern region of Sinaloa from 2021.
The governor was involved in the 2023 scandal involving the Sinaloa cartel, where his name was published in a letter written by a then cartel capo who was kidnapped by the leaders of a rival group. The cartel capo was handed over to law enforcement in the US The capo said in a letter that when he was kidnapped, he believed he was on his way to meet Rocha Moya.
The governor faces federal charges, including conspiracy to import drugs and possession of machine guns and explosives, as well as one count of conspiracy. If convicted, Rocha Moya could face life in prison or 40 years in prison.
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Juan de Dios Gamez, the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital, Culiacan, who is one of those named by the US Department of Justice, has also announced that he will step down.
The two men who left office no longer enjoy immunity and cannot be investigated.
The dramatic cases add to an already strained relationship with President Trump’s administration, following the latest the death of two US agents — reportedly by CIA operatives — about drug operations.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of the six Mexican drug-trafficking groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
Sheinbaum has faced pressure from Washington to accept US intervention, such as drone strikes or military personnel, to fight the cartels.
