The US Justice Department unveiled charges on Wednesday against Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine others, accusing them of working with the notorious Sinaloa cartel to distribute “massive quantities” of narcotics to the United States.
Rocha Moya, a member of Sheinbaum’s left-leaning Morena party and close ally of her predecessor, has governed the violence-ridden state since 2021.
The 76-year-old has a long history in public life that included stints as a state lawmaker in the 1980s, the head of the University of Sinaloa in the 1990s, the advisor of two governors in the 2000s and then a state leader for Morena.
“If the Office of the Attorney General… receives solid and irrefutable evidence in accordance with Mexican law, or if, in the course of its own investigation, it finds elements constituting a crime, it must comply” with the US extradition request, Sheinbaum told her morning press conference.
She added that if evidence was not provided or found, it will be evident that “the goal of these Justice Department accusations is political.”
Rocha Moya, in a social media post on Wednesday, rejected the charges as an attack against the populist Morena political movement, founded by Sheinbaum predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The other officials facing US charges are also part of Morena.
Sheinbaum noted this was the first time that the United States had made narcotrafficking charges public against a sitting governor or other high-ranking official.
“We aren’t going to protect anyone,” she vowed.
The stunning charges add to already strained diplomatic relations with US President Donald Trump’s administration, following the recent death of two US agents — reportedly CIA personnel — in connection with a drug bust operation.
The agents, who died in a car accident in the border state of Chihuahua, had not received permission from Sheinbaum’s government to operate on Mexican territory.
But analysts say Washington did not take well to the Mexican government’s response to the debacle, especially after the US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, gave a speech criticizing the country’s corruption at an event in Sinaloa.
“The president got sarcastic” and made fun of Johnson’s speech, Raul Benitez Manaut, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told AFP.
The national security expert warned: “That level of conduct is not going to favor Mexico, because unfortunately we’re engaged in negotiations” with the United States over a free trade deal.
Benitez Manaut said the US is the party “with much more leverage” and could just scrap a free trade agreement with Mexico, which would deal a heavy blow to the national economy.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of six Mexican narcotrafficking groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.
Sheinbaum has faced pressure from Washington to accept US intervention, such as drone strikes or military personnel, to fight cartels.
While supporting greater collaboration on intelligence gathering, she has rejected the prospect of US forces in Mexico as a threat to the country’s independence.