10 current and former Mexican officials accused in US indictment of
aiding drug trafficking
[April 30, 2026]
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 progressive ruling party, Morena,
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.
Morena party members indicted
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 machine guns 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 powerful drug cartels. López Obrador built a
political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing
Mexican politics.
Rocha, the highest profile official charged, said he “categorically and
completely rejects” the accusations as baseless and called them 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.”
Later in the day, he told reporters that he planned to stay in Sinaloa
and wasn’t worried.
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.
Those charged included a Mexican senator, a Sinaloa state deputy
attorney general, a former Sinaloa secretary of public security, a
former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police and the mayor of
Culiacan.
According to the indictment, the defendants shielded 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 indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa
Cartel faction 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
cartel ship fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico
into the U.S. The Sinaloa Cartel is among eight Latin American crime
groups designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
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Sinaloa state Gov. Ruben Rocha waves as he takes part in an annual
earthquake drill in Culiacan, Mexico, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP
Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)
“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,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a
release.
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 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.
In the years since, the cartel's two warring factions have ravaged
the northern Mexican state in their struggle for territorial
control.
Among those indicted, at least three officials — Rocha, 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.
It's not the first time the U.S. has brought drug trafficking
charges against ranking Mexican officials. Genaro García Luna — a
former Mexican public security secretary under former President
Felipe Calderón — was convicted by a U.S. court and sentenced to 38
years in prison after he was accused of taking bribes from the
Sinaloa Cartel. He denied the allegations and is appealing his
conviction.
Another balancing act for Sheinbaum
The indictment unsealed Wednesday 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 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.
Sheinbaum’s government has already detained several local officials
across Mexico in its ongoing crackdown against the cartels, fueled
by pressure by the Trump administration.
The indictment has once again forced the Mexican leader to walk a
political tightrope, said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow in
foreign policy at the Washington-based Brookings Institution who
specializes in organized crime.
If Sheinbaum doesn’t go after Rocha, it will put strain on relations
with the U.S. ahead of renegotiations of a free-trade agreement with
the U.S. crucial to the Mexican economy, the analyst said. If she
does arrest him, “it carries tremendous consequences for her
politically” ahead of next year’s midterm elections in Mexico.
“Is she going to move to arrest Gov. Rocha and the other eight
indicted politicians and attempt to extradite him to the United
States? This is certainly what the United States wants,” Felbab-Brown
said.
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