Mexico’s Sheinbaum battles party split over US cartel charges

By Diego Ore

MEXICO CITY, May 6 (Reuters) – A U.S. indictment announced last week accusing several Mexican politicians, including the governor of Sinaloa, of ties to drug cartels is triggering a rift in the ruling Morena party and posing a significant challenge for President Claudia ‌Sheinbaum as factions jostle over how to respond.

Sheinbaum has publicly condemned U.S. involvement and said the evidence Mexico has seen so far is not enough to arrest and extradite 10 current and former Mexican officials accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of conspiring with the Sinaloa Cartel to smuggle drugs into the United States.

But behind the scenes, a heated disagreement was brewing within the ruling party over pre-existing fault lines, three senior Morena officials told Reuters. The dispute has centered on the future of Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha, an influential Morena politician who said last Friday he would temporarily step down from office as a local investigation progressed. He denies any wrongdoing.

Rocha became the first high-profile politician to be accused by the United States of ties to drug trafficking. US prosecutors have accused Mexican officials of corruption before, but only after they left office.

Sources said the powerful faction in Morena, loyal to former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the movement’s founder and de facto leader, strongly opposes any action that could be considered bowing to U.S. pressure.

This faction is led by Supreme Court Justice Lenia Batres and her brother Martí, who is in charge of Mexico’s public sector social security agency ISSSTE, as well as Morena congress leaders Ignacio Mier and Ricardo Monreal. The group was against Rocha’s resignation and believed he should be allowed to continue in office until allegations of cartel ties in Mexico were proven; this was an uncertain process that could take years to complete. They also consider the US extradition a betrayal of Mexican sovereignty. Rocha is a long-time ally of López Obrador.

On the other side of the dispute is a growing and influential group of young leaders, headed by the party’s new chief, Ariadna Montiel, who see the Rocha indictment as an opportunity to finally combat corruption within the ruling party. This group is naturally aligned with Sheinbaum, although the leader remains indebted to his predecessor and mentor, whose overwhelming popularity ensured his election victory.

Neither Morena nor the presidency responded to requests for comment.

According to officials and political analysts, this conflict marks a potential crossroads for Morena. What is potentially at stake, they say, is the ruling party’s supermajority in Congress being formed through coalition with Labor and the Green Party. Any sense of internal division could also hurt Morena at the ballot box.

“Behind closed doors, the cracks within the party are clearly visible,” said a senior Morena leader who is aligned with López Obrador. “It is clear that what happened to Rocha will affect the future of the party.”

MORENA SELECTION JUGGERNAUT

Over the past eight years, Morena has become the dominant party in Mexico. Along with its allies, it now governs 75% of the states, holds supermajorities in both houses of Congress, and controls nearly half of the nation’s 2,400 municipalities.

But although López Obrador won by a landslide in 2018 on promises to end corruption, impunity and greed, his administration has faced accusations that it has a close relationship with the country’s violent drug cartels.

There are no easy choices for Sheinbaum.

On the one hand, the public perception that he betrayed Lopez Obrador by following the orders of the United States could harm Morena as a political force. But Mexicans are also increasingly angered by allegations of corruption and collusion between politicians and organized crime, especially in places ravaged by cartel violence like Sinaloa. If Sheinbaum is seen to be ignoring or sweeping serious accusations under the rug, it could seriously damage his credibility.

“This is an uncomfortable position,” said Antonio Ocaranza, an advisor and former spokesman for former President Ernesto Zedillo, who ruled Mexico from 1994 to 2000.

“The political costs of appeasing the US are high. Even if Sheinbaum does not agree to extradition, he will face greater pressure to show that he is fighting corruption within his government, and the names subject to similarly extensive US investigations are extensive,” he said.

(Reporting by Diego Oré; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Alistair Bell)