By MEGAN JANETSKY, MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER
NEW YORK (AP) — The governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials were charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses in a U.S. indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York, accused of aiding in the massive importation of illicit narcotics into the United States.
Some officials were members of Mexico’s ruling party, posing a political conundrum for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as she seeks to offset mounting pressures from the Trump administration. Some of those politicians called the indictment a political attack on their party.
U.S. federal officials announced the charges in a news release. None of the defendants were in custody, but Mexico’s government said shortly afterward that it had received multiple extradition requests from the U.S. without identifying those requested. It did not say how it would respond.
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 Mexico’s Sinaloa state since November 2021.
Charges against Moya included narcotics importation conspiracy and possession of machineguns and destructive devices, along with another conspiracy count. If convicted, he could face life in prison or a mandatory minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Rocha was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum’s mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president’s “Hugs, Not Bullets” policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with the powerful drug cartels.
Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he “categorically and completely rejects” the accusations, calling them baseless. The official called the charges an “attack” on Mexico’s ruling party and its leaders.
“It is part of a perverse strategy to violate (Mexico’s) constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, ” he wrote in a post on X on Wednesday afternoon. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.”
Ties to Sinaloa Cartel
Some of those named, according to the indictment, have themselves participated in the Sinaloa Cartel’s campaign of violence and retribution.
The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as “Los Chapitos,” which is run by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the ex-cartel leader now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Authorities said the defendants played critical roles in helping the Sinaloa Cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S.
In a release, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton called the Sinaloa Cartel “a ruthless criminal organization that has flooded this community with dangerous drugs for decades.”
He added: “As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll.”
The indictment of Rocha, who was born in the same town as “El Chapo”, was particularly notable because the governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2023 involving the Sinaloa Cartel. His name was published in a letter written by a then-Sinaloa Cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction of the cartel and handed off to law enforcement in the U.S. In the letter, the capo said that when he was kidnapped he believed he was on his way to meet with Rocha.
In the years since, the cartels two warring factions have ravaged the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial control.
Morena party members indicted
Among those indicted, at least three officials –- Rocha, the governor, the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital, and a senator -– were affiliated with Sheinbaum’s party, Morena. A number of other officials held positions unaffiliated with Mexican parties.
The charges come after U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson last week said that the U.S. administration would launch an anti-corruption campaign targeting Mexican officials he said were linked to organized crime.
“Corruption not only hinders progress, it distorts it. It increases costs, weakens competition, and erodes the trust upon which markets depend. It is not a problem without victims,” Johnson said.
Sheinbaum responded Monday by saying that her government has not seen “any evidence” of the charges of corruption.
“Any investigation in the United States against any person in Mexico must have evidence reviewed by the (Mexican) Attorney General’s Office,” Sheinbaum said.
U.S. prosecutors previously brought drug trafficking charges against a former Mexican cabinet member, Genaro García Luna, who was accused of taking bribes to help the Sinaloa Cartel while he was supposedly combating it as his country’s public security secretary under former President Felipe Calderón. García Luna was convicted in 2023 and was sentenced to more than 38 years in prison. He denied the allegations and is appealing his conviction.
Associated Press writers Megan Janetsky, María Verza and Fabiola Sánchez reported from Mexico City while AP writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.