MEXICO CITY, April 29 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday it had charged the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha, and other officials for their alleged involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel, in a significant escalation of U.S. anti-cartel action that is likely to increase tensions between the United States and Mexico.
The Justice Department said Rocha and the others allegedly conspired with leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to import massive quantities of narcotics into the U.S. in exchange for political support and bribes.
Indictments against sitting senior Mexican politicians are extremely uncommon and the charges against Rocha appear to mark a new front in the U.S. fight against the cartels, expanding investigations beyond kingpins of the criminal groups to include politicians.
Rocha’s indictment poses a problem for President Claudia Sheinbaum, particularly because they are both from the same ruling Morena party. Rocha is also an ally of Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
“Let these charges send a clear message to all officials around the globe who work with narco-traffickers: no matter your title or position, we are committed to bringing you to justice,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in the statement announcing the indictment.
Last year, Reuters exclusively reported on the U.S. pressuring Mexico to investigate and prosecute politicians with suspected links to organized crime.
Rocha denied the charges and said they were an attack against Mexico’s governing political movement.
“They lack any truth or foundation whatsoever,” Rocha said in a post on X, promising they would be proven false.
In a statement, Mexico’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday it had received several extradition requests for Mexican individuals a day earlier, but that they lacked sufficient evidence. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said it was beginning an investigation to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to merit arrest warrants in Mexico, in accordance with Mexican law.
According to the Justice Department, Rocha was elected as governor of Sinaloa in 2021 with the help of a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel run by the sons of founder Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, known as “Los Chapitos.”
The Chapitos allegedly kidnapped and intimidated his rivals, the Justice Department said, in exchange for Rocha’s promise to allow the group to operate with impunity and distribute drugs to the U.S.
The indictment comes after the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, last week promised action on combating corruption in Mexico.
The others charged include current and former state-level officials as well as the mayor and an ex-police commander for Culiacan, the state capital, which has been plagued by drug violence.
“Corruption that enables organized crime and harms both our countries will be investigated and prosecuted wherever U.S. jurisdiction applies,” the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said in a separate statement after the indictment was announced.
(Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City and Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Natalia Siniawski in Mexico City; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer, Lisa Shumaker and Lincoln Feast.)
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