The Mexican governor accused by the US of conspiring with a major criminal cartel to traffic drugs is ending his leave of absence, pledging to finish out his term through next year in a move that could inflame tensions with Washington.
In April, US prosecutors sought the arrest and eventual extradition of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, a stalwart of the leftist Morena party of President Claudia Sheinbaum. A day later, she argued that clear evidence would be needed to justify his detention, suggesting the US move amounted to a political attack.
The explosive accusations against Rocha Moya, along with nine other former and current Sinaloa state officials, rocked Sheinbaum’s ruling coalition and marked an escalation from the administration of President Donald Trump, who has often claimed that drug cartels exert more control over Mexico than its leader.
“Today I return to my responsibility as governor of Sinaloa with my head held high,” Rocha wrote in a lengthy statement posted on social media. The post derided the “political and interventionist motivations” lodged against him by what he described as both Mexican and foreign far-right forces.
“I’m innocent and have no involvement in the fabrications that have been concocted against me,” he added.
Rocha Moya had announced he’d take a temporary leave of absence from his job in May. In his statement, he emphasized that he cooperated with investigators without invoking the immunity protections he’s entitled to as a sitting governor, and that no evidence of wrongdoing has emerged from the probe.
In an unsealed indictment, US prosecutors in New York accused Rocha Moya of working with leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to get him elected by kidnapping and intimidating his rivals, and that in exchange he offered them protection to distribute drugs into the US.
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