MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� Two members of Mexican President party in the northwestern Sinaloa state said they would temporarily step down from their posts after the United States charged them and eight other politicians and security officers with drug trafficking in a that has shaken Mexico’s .
In a short video announcement at midnight Friday, Gov. Rub茅n Rocha Moya, the highest-ranking official named in the indictment, denied accusations that he protected the Sinaloa cartel and helped it smuggle drugs into the U.S. in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.
鈥淢y conscience is clear,鈥� said Rocha, 76, a longtime ally of influential former . 鈥淭o my people and to my family, I can look you in the eye because I have never betrayed you, and I never will.鈥�
But he said he would take a temporary leave of absence from the position he has held for six years to defend himself against what he called the 鈥渇alse and malicious鈥� allegations and cooperate with the Mexican government’s investigation.
Juan de Dios G谩mez Mend铆vil, the mayor of the Sinaloa state capital Culiac谩n named in the indictment, also said he would take leave and denied the charges. Another defendant and member of the ruling Morena party, Sen. Enrique Inzunza, said he would continue serving in the Senate while defending himself from the accusations.
In a special vote Saturday, the state’s local congress appointed as interim governor Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde, an ally of Rocha who previously served as the state’s secretary of government.
Rocha and G谩mez Mend铆vil had enjoyed immunity from criminal prosecution as sitting governor and mayor. But in leaving their posts even temporarily, the officials lost their blanket protection from prosecution, Arturo Zald铆var, a former Mexican Supreme Court justice who now advises Sheinbaum, posted on X.
鈥淭hey can be detained like any person,鈥� he wrote.
Sheinbaum has between the interests of her progressive Morena party and from U.S. to step up the fight against cartels.
In a nod to her party鈥檚 anti-corruption platform, Sheinbaum said she wouldn鈥檛 defend anyone found to have committed a crime.
But she vigorously defended Mexico’s sovereignty, vowing that if federal authorities uncovered 鈥渋rrefutable鈥� evidence linking the 10 indicted officials to cartel crime, the accused would be tried in Mexico, not the U.S. 鈥� a move that risks backlash from an American administration that has against cartels on Mexican soil.
鈥淲e will never subordinate ourselves because this is a matter of the dignity of the Mexican people,鈥� she said Friday.
Pending investigation, the Mexican attorney general鈥檚 office said it would not arrest Rocha or the other accused officials, as requested by the U.S.
Rocha, a point person for the approach to dealing with organized crime that L贸pez Obrador pioneered and Sheinbaum has since ditched, insisted in the video that the indictment represents a political attack on Morena.
鈥淚 will not allow myself to be used to harm the movement to which I belong 鈥� one that has improved the lives of millions of Mexican men and women,鈥� he said.
Born in the same town as the notorious Mexican drug kingpin Rocha has found himself embroiled in similar scandals before. In 2024, he was written by a then-Sinaloa cartel capo who was kidnapped by leaders of a rival faction and handed off to U.S. law enforcement. In the letter, the capo said that he was on his way to meet Rocha when he was abducted.
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DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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