Mexico’s president condemns governor’s brief return to office

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Governor Ruben Rocha Moya, 77, of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, which is located in the northwest of the country, had requested another temporary, indefinite leave of absence from his post, just days after defiantly reclaiming office for a day. Now, however, he faces a backlash from his Morena party, the same political party as Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Morena asserted that its national leadership had no foreknowledge of Rocha’s return, calling it his “personal decision”. The Senate bloc urged restraint and respect while the investigation unfolds, while Morena governors issued a joint statement asserting that “personal or group political projects have no place” when the country’s interests are at stake. The comments follow Rocha’s 112-day absence due to an April US drug-trafficking indictment. Rocha is the first sitting governor in Mexico to face drug-trafficking charges by the US. Rocha has denied the charges, calling them a politically motivated attack. He stepped down for three months before announcing on X on Friday that he had resumed power with a “clear conscience” and his “head held high”. That didn’t last long, as he then requested the leave. “I had no prior knowledge that he wanted to return,” Sheinbaum said at her daily morning press conference on Monday. “I don’t know what led the governor — who is once again on leave — to return. I haven’t spoken to him, nor do I intend to,” the Mexican president added. On Saturday, in an apparent rebuke of Rocha that did not mention him by name, Sheinbaum wrote, “No personal interest can ever come before the interests of the people and the nation. Mexico deserves public servants who understand that positions are temporary, but responsibility to the nation is eternal.” The Sinaloa state congress is expected to appoint an interim governor this week. Since returning to office for a second term in 2025, US President Donald Trump has sought to crack down on crime across the Western Hemisphere, including by labelling gangs like the Sinaloa Cartel as “foreign terrorist organisations”. Trump has also threatened military action in Mexico. He has accused the country’s cartels of “orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere” and has depicted the Mexican government as overrun by criminal elements. US federal prosecutors first charged Rocha on April 29 with bribery as well as shielding and conspiring with a faction of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for smuggling drugs – including fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine — into the US for help with his political career. The “bombshell” criminal indictment was also unleashed against nine other Mexican officials and businessmen. That included a senator representing Sinaloa, a public security secretary for the state, the mayor of the city of Culiacan, and several high-ranking police leaders. The denunciations fuelled new tensions between the US and Mexican governments. Sheinbaum has denied protecting Rocha, but rejected Washington’s request to arrest and extradite the defendants without credible evidence, insisting that any prosecution should take place in Mexico. Prosecutors said that the inducements extended back to Rocha’s 2021 election campaign, when members of the cartel’s “Chapitos” faction allegedly helped secure his victory. According to the indictment, cartel operatives kidnapped and threatened opposition candidates and stole ballot papers cast for his rivals to help secure his victory. Rocha had run for governor of Sinaloa twice prior to his successful 2021 bid. A staunch ally of Sheinbaum’s mentor, former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Rocha has denied any wrongdoing and has described the charges as politically motivated. Though he previously stepped aside so he could cooperate with the Mexican investigation without relying on the constitutional immunity attached to his office, it remains a point of contention among Mexican legal scholars whether his previous leave actually stripped him of legal protection, and whether his current bid to step aside indefinitely would yield the same result. After the indictment, the mayor of Culiacan, Sinaloa’s capital, and the state’s deputy attorney general resigned, while two former senior state officials turned themselves in to US authorities. Sinaloa has suffered through two years of violent fighting between rival groups inside its local drug cartel. 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