Mexican Governor And Mayor Indicted By U.S. For Drug Trafficking Step Down

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two members of the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum The party in the northwestern state of Sinaloa said they would temporarily step down after the United States charged them and eight other current and former politicians and security officials with drug trafficking. bomb indictment shook mexico political organization.

In a brief video announcement released at midnight Friday, Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, the highest-ranking official named in the indictment, denied accusations that he protected the powerful Sinaloa cartel and helped smuggle drugs into the United States in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.

“My conscience is clear,” said Rocha, a prominent ally of Sheinbaum’s mentor. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. “I can look my people and my family in the eye because I have never betrayed you and I never will.”

But he said he would take a temporary leave of absence from his position of six years to defend himself against “false and malicious” allegations and to cooperate with the Mexican government’s investigation.

Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, the mayor of Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, who is mentioned in the indictment, also said he would take leave and denied the accusations. The city’s comptroller became interim mayor on Saturday.

As governor and mayor, Rocha and Gámez Mendívil enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution, requiring the Mexican Congress to remove them from office first if they are to face charges. Their decision to take temporary leave instead of resigning allows them to maintain their immunity.

Sheinbaum, I had a hard time keeping the balance. with the interests of the progressive Morena party pressure from USA President Donald Trump To step up the fight against the cartels, he said he had seen no credible evidence against the 10 accused officials but promised that Mexican officials would collect their information.

He will be tried in Mexico, not the United States, if “irrefutable” evidence emerges linking him to cartel crime, authorities said. threat of military action Against the cartels in Mexican territory.

“We will never put ourselves second, because this is a matter about the dignity of the Mexican people,” he said Friday.

Pending the investigation, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said it would not arrest Rocha or other accused officials at the request of the United States.

Rocha, an important person without touching “not shooting bullets, but hugging” The approach to fighting organized crime that López Obrador pioneered and Sheinbaum has since abandoned insisted in the video that the indictment represented a political attack on Morena.

“I will not allow myself to be used to harm the movement to which I belong, which has improved the lives of millions of Mexican men and women,” he said.

Born in the same town as the notorious Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” Rocha has previously been involved in a scandal involving the Sinaloa cartel. in 2024 mentioned in a letter published It was written by a then-Sinaloa cartel capo who was kidnapped by the leaders of a rival group and turned over to U.S. law enforcement. In the letter, the capo said he was on his way to meet Rocha when he was kidnapped.