Rubén Rocha returns as Sinaloa governor after Mexican prosecutors clear him

Return tests US extradition cooperation

Rubén Rocha, the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, said Friday that he is returning to office after Mexico’s federal prosecutors cleared him of drug-trafficking charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department in late April. The indictment, which also named nine other current and former Sinaloa officials, alleges that Rocha helped cartel kingpins smuggle drugs in exchange for political support and bribes. Rocha had stepped aside after the charges were unsealed.

“Today, I am returning to exercise my responsibilities as governor of Sinaloa with my head held high and with the truth on our side,” Rocha said in a statement posted on X. He said Mexican prosecutors had investigated the allegations against him for 112 days and had found nothing. “There is no evidence that can sustain our participation in any criminal conduct. I have not committed any crimes,” he said.

Mexico’s attorney general’s office did not immediately comment on Rocha’s statement. Mexico’s Interior Ministry said the governor’s decision is “personal” and that it understands federal prosecutors continue to investigate his case. The U.S. Justice and State departments did not immediately return requests for comment.

At the time of the April indictment, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. request to arrest and extradite Rocha lacked sufficient evidence. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum came to Rocha’s defense, saying that while Mexican prosecutors would review the evidence supporting the extradition request, a failure to find clear proof would show that the U.S. accusation had political motivations. In his Friday statement, Rocha praised Sheinbaum for defending Mexico’s sovereignty, democracy and independence “against the schemes of foreigners and the far-right opposition.”

Sheinbaum has been under unrelenting pressure from the Trump administration to step up Mexico’s counternarcotics efforts and allow U.S. troops to fight cartels within Mexico; she has refused. President Trump has said Mexico is run by cartels, which Sheinbaum has denied. In July, Terry Cole, the head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said the cartels and Mexico’s government were “one and the same” and vowed to go after Mexican officials who cooperate with drug traffickers. Cole said the indictments against the Sinaloa officials “were just the beginning of what is to come in Mexico.”

Sergio Aguayo, a Mexican political analyst and human-rights activist, said that Rocha’s return to the governor’s office represents an act of impunity. He said there was abundant evidence in Mexico of Rocha’s alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel, even before the U.S. indictment. “As a Mexican, I’m offended and embarrassed that he is returning as governor,” he said.

Rocha won the governorship of Sinaloa in 2021 in an election marked by widespread interference by the state’s eponymous cartel, according to witnesses cited at the time. Those witnesses said the “Chapitos” faction of the cartel, considered the most important producer and smuggler of fentanyl into the U.S., had kidnapped and intimidated Rocha’s political opponents, contributing to his electoral victory. That allegation is part of the indictment against Rocha, which he denies.

For the past two years, Sinaloa has been the scene of armed conflict between the Chapitos and a rival faction of the cartel. More than 3,000 people have been killed and about 3,800 are missing.

Sheinbaum separately came to the defense of Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, the son of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In a letter to Trump that López Beltrán posted on X last week, he said the U.S. had canceled his visa, which he called a “Hitlerian” move aimed at Mexico’s leftist ruling party Morena and its leaders. Sheinbaum said the visa cancellation was the latest U.S. attempt to intervene in Mexico’s domestic affairs.

Christopher Landau, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, said last week that cooperation on security, migration and trade was crucial for the prosperity of both countries. “We mustn’t allow the occasional flareup of political drama to distract us from this fundamental point,” he wrote on X.