U.S. prosecutors have charged Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and several other officials with drug trafficking conspiracy involving the Sinaloa Cartel, an allegation Rocha Moya dismisses as a political attack.
The U.S. Justice Department has formally charged Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other Mexican officials with conspiring to distribute “massive quantities” of narcotics alongside the Sinaloa Cartel, according to a Wednesday announcement from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The indictment targets high-level figures within Mexico’s governing Morena party, including a senator and the municipal president of Culiacán, prompting Mexico’s Foreign Ministry to confirm the receipt of several extradition requests. Rocha Moya, who has led the cartel-ravaged state since 2021, “categorically and absolutely” denied the allegations in a statement on X, asserting, “This attack isn’t only against me, it’s against the Fourth Transformation.” These charges come as the Sinaloa Cartel remains designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration amid an ongoing internal power struggle that has claimed thousands of lives.