US charges Sinaloa governor and other Mexican officials with drug trafficking offences | Mexico
The U.S. justice department has indicted Sinaloa’s governor and nine other current and former officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel and accused them of aiding the importation of large amounts of illegal drugs into the United States.
Some of the officials are members of Mexico’s progressive ruling party, Morena, posing a political impasse for Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum as she tries to balance growing pressure from the Trump administration.
The 10 people charged in Manhattan federal court are current and former government or law enforcement officials in Sinaloa, including Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, who has been governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa since November 2021.
The indictment alleges that the governor was elected in 2021 with the help of the Sinaloa cartel, which allegedly kidnapped and intimidated political opponents in exchange for protection of their operations after coming to power.
The charges against Moya included conspiracy to import narcotics and possession of a machine gun and destructive devices, as well as another conspiracy charge. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Responding to the claim, Rocha Moya wrote to x “categorically and unequivocally rejects”[s]Accusations that are “completely untrue and have no basis.”
“This is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, especially national sovereignty,” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander has no basis.”
US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said combating transnational crime is a shared priority between the US and Mexico.
“Our countries have pledged to strengthen transparency, enforce anti-corruption laws and uphold the rule of law. That’s what our citizens on both sides of the border want, and as I’ve said many times, it’s what they deserve.”
President Sheinbaum has not yet commented on the accusations, but the foreign affairs secretariat published a statement He stated that he has received various extradition requests from the US government, adding that the attorney general’s office will decide whether there is enough evidence to arrest those accused.
Authorities alleged the defendants played critical roles in helping the cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico to the United States. The Sinaloa cartel is among eight Latin American criminal groups designated as a terrorist organization by the US government.
Under pressure from the Trump administration, which has threatened tariffs and unilateral military action, the Mexican government has stepped up arrests and drug seizures across the country, transferred nearly 100 top cartel operatives to U.S. prisons and launched operations against the ringleaders.
Over the past two months, the Mexican military has killed Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the leader of the Jalisco new generation cartel, and arrested his possible successor, Audias Flores.
via Associated Press
