Mexico to investigate US indictment of officials for alleged Sinaloa
Cartel ties
[May 01, 2026]
By MEGAN JANETSKY and MARÍA VERZA
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico is vowing an independent investigation of 10
current and former officials who have been indicted in the U.S. on
charges of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons in
connection with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that she wouldn’t let
foreign governments meddle in her country’s affairs to serve their own
political purposes.
The indictment in New York on Wednesday charged a number of sitting
officials in Mexico's northern state of Sinaloa, including members of
Sheinbaum's progressive Morena party, with drug trafficking and illegal
possession of weapons. It fueled a political firestorm at a time when
Sheinbaum has sought to offset U.S. pressure to crack down on cartels
while appeasing her own base with a message of Mexican sovereignty.
Mexico's government said that it had seen an extradition request from
the U.S. for 10 citizens and added that the request didn't provide
enough evidence to warrant arrests.
A political rupture
The highest profile official implicated was Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha
Moya, a top Morena official and close ally of Sheinbaum's mentor and
predecessor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Sheinbaum, who previously said she hadn't seen evidence to back up the
U.S. allegations, said Thursday that Mexican prosecutors would
investigate the cases and gather their own information to see whether
there is enough evidence to back the U.S. claims.
She said she was ready to put her foot down if Mexican investigations
find “no clear evidence” that those charged committed a crime.
“If it is evident that the Justice Department’s charges are politically
motivated, let there be absolutely no doubt: under no circumstances will
we allow a foreign government to interfere in decisions that are the
exclusive prerogative of the Mexican people,” Sheinbaum said.
U.S. President Donald Trump has engaged more aggressively in Latin
America than any president in recent decades, capturing Venezuela’s
president in an overnight raid and pushing massive reforms in Venezuela,
imposing an oil blockade on Cuba, getting involved in Argentine and
Honduran elections and threatening military action on Mexican cartels.
U.S. involvement in Mexico has come under public scrutiny in recent
weeks after two CIA agents died in a car crash following a
counter-narcotics operation alongside state officials in northern
Chihuahua. Sheinbaum has said the agents didn't have federal
authorization to work in Mexico and that she doesn't want to see any
similar incidents in the future, but also indicated she doesn't want
conflict with the U.S. over the matter.
Sheinbaum has underscored Mexico's sovereignty to appease her populist
base while also cracking down on drug cartels to maintain a strong
relationship with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of their free trade
agreement this year. Trump has repeatedly offered to take military
action on Mexican cartels, an intervention Sheinbaum has called
“unnecessary.”
Serving an ‘interventionist’ foreign policy
Carlos Pérez Ricart, a professor at the Mexican Center for Research and
Economic Education, said the U.S. indictment of a sitting Mexican
governor represents a “political earthquake in Mexico," but is aimed at
backing rhetoric in Washington to promote an “interventionist” policy in
Latin America on combating drug trafficking.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at the National Palace
to give her daily morning press conference in Mexico City, Thursday,
April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Rocha, the governor, categorically rejected the accusations on
Wednesday, writing on a social media post that they “lack any basis
in truth.”
The indictment also charged the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital and a
senator, both from Sheinbaum’s Morena party, and other officials.
Rocha and other officials called it an attack on their left-leaning
political movement.
According to the indictment, the defendants shielded Sinaloa Cartel
leaders from investigation, arrest, and prosecution, fed the cartel
with sensitive law enforcement and military information, directed
members of state and local law enforcement agencies to protect drug
loads and let the cartel commit brutal drug-related violence without
consequence. In return, it said, the defendants received millions of
dollars in drug money.
The cartel is one of eight Latin American criminal groups that the
U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.
Mexico investigates
The indictment of Rocha was particularly notable because the
governor was embroiled in a scandal in 2024 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.
Mexico's Deputy Attorney General Ulises Lara said in a video
released Wednesday that sitting officials would need to be impeached
before any major action by Mexican authorities to lift their legal
immunity. He criticized the U.S. release of details about their
case, calling them “detrimental to the confidential nature of
criminal proceedings.”
As part of her crackdown on cartels, Sheinbaum's government has
detained local officials across Mexico involved in corruption. But
security analyst David Saucedo said those actions so far haven't
touched officials among Morena's political elite who may be
suspected of ties to drug traffickers.
The government hasn't tried to investigate them, though the
president has tried to persuade some of them to step down, Saucedo
said. Sheinbaum can either “clean house” or face pressure from a
U.S. administration eager to take action, he said.
___
Associated Press journalist Fabiola Sánchez contributed to this
report from Mexico City.
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