Morena party backs Sheinbaum over governor’s attempted return
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum forced Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha from office over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported, thwarting his attempt to return to the governorship three months after he stepped down when U.S. prosecutors indicted him on charges of colluding with the Sinaloa cartel. The move forced Sheinbaum to chart a more independent course between the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Mexican cartels and her mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, according to the Journal.
Rocha had stepped down three months earlier after U.S. prosecutors charged him with colluding with the Sinaloa cartel, which the Journal described as the largest supplier of fentanyl into the U.S. The charges are part of what the Journal called an unprecedented pressure campaign by the Trump administration against Mexican cartels, with the U.S. pushing Sheinbaum to extradite Rocha and to allow U.S. forces to conduct operations on Mexican soil — all of which she has rejected, the Journal reported.
Rocha denied wrongdoing and said he would cooperate with a Mexican investigation of the U.S. charges. Then last Friday, Rocha announced on X that he was assuming office again and claimed Mexican prosecutors had cleared him. Hours later, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said the Sinaloa Cartel is a designated terrorist organization that could not operate without corrupt officials.
Sheinbaum learned of Rocha’s announcement while bedridden with the flu at her doctor’s order, the Journal reported. She convened cabinet meetings over the weekend at the National Palace and set in motion a series of events that thwarted Rocha’s comeback. Instead of falling in line behind Rocha, the Morena movement that López Obrador founded backed Sheinbaum. Mexico’s Interior Ministry said the investigation into Rocha is continuing and that his decision to return to office was “personal.”
By Sunday, Rocha had requested another leave of absence, and the Sinaloa legislature installed an interim leader this week. Sheinbaum said Sinaloa’s leaders must be honest. The Journal described the episode as a “stunning rebuke” for Rocha, who until now had been seen as untouchable because of his close relationship with López Obrador.
Political analyst Salvador Camarena told the Journal that Sheinbaum should move to end the perception that López Obrador is an invisible power broker from his ranch in the jungles of southern Mexico, a narrative that Camarena said undercuts her authority and Mexico’s ability to be governed. “She has a chance to establish that there’s only one head of government, who resides at the National Palace,” Camarena said. López Obrador could not be reached for comment. Sheinbaum denied any involvement by the former president. “Political fiction is the order of the day,” she said.
Days before Rocha’s announcement, the U.S. revoked the visa of Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, López Obrador’s son. López Beltrán called the action “Hitlerian” and described it as an attack by the U.S. far-right on Morena, according to the Journal. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico said U.S. visas are a privilege, not a right. The State Department did not disclose the reason behind the visa revocation.
López Beltrán’s statement also caught Sheinbaum by surprise, but she and Morena came to his defense, calling the visa revocation the latest U.S. attempt to meddle in Mexican politics since the indictment of Rocha and nine other senior former and current Sinaloa officials in late April. The 10 Sinaloans were charged with helping cartel kingpins smuggle drugs in exchange for political support and bribes.
Rocha’s bid to return to the governorship came despite his being unlikely to be extradited to the U.S., Mexican officials told the Journal. Beyond claims that evidence is insufficient, his extradition would risk exposing broader collusion with organized crime and lead to even tougher demands from the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the issue. State governors have immunity from prosecution in Mexico.
Mexico’s foreign minister met with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday in Washington, where discussions included security cooperation, the Journal reported.
Hours before Rocha announced his return, Mexican authorities arrested Fausto Corrales, a witness in a Sinaloa murder mystery. People familiar with the case believe Corrales saw the kidnapping of Sinaloa Cartel patriarch Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in 2024 that sparked a civil war within the cartel. Zambada was kidnapped at a meeting in Culiacán where he had been lured by his godson, Joaquín Guzmán López, the son of his former business partner Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Zambada was stuffed into a plane and flown to the U.S. by Guzmán López, who had betrayed his godfather in an attempt to get better terms from U.S. prosecutors in a plea deal.
Corrales was the driver for Héctor Cuén, another Sinaloa politician who attended the meeting with Zambada and who was killed during the drug boss’s kidnapping. Zambada said he had expected to help resolve a dispute between Rocha and Cuén at the meeting. Rocha denied any involvement.
An investigation by Sinaloa’s attorney general said Cuén was fatally wounded during a botched carjacking at a gas station that night, but Mexican federal prosecutors said the probe by Sinaloa police, state prosecutors, and forensic examiners had been fabricated, including a fake video recording of the alleged carjacking. The Sinaloa attorney general resigned at Rocha’s suggestion, and federal prosecutors took over the case.
The episode places Sheinbaum in open conflict with one of López Obrador’s closest allies, even as both continue to share the Morena movement. A spokesman for Rocha did not return requests for comment to the Journal.