Rocha Moya resumes Sinaloa governorship after 112-day leave

Reporting and context

El Financiero reports that Rubén Rocha Moya resumed his position as constitutional governor of Sinaloa after 112 days on temporary leave. In a message posted on social media, Rocha Moya said he was returning “with his head held high” and described the resumption of his duties as a responsibility to the people who elected him. The report says he requested the leave from the state Congress on May 1 and used the period to make himself available to Mexico’s justice system while allegations against him were investigated.

Rocha Moya called the allegations false and unsupported, according to El Financiero. He said he appeared before the Attorney General’s Office, or FGR, and its prosecutors, and that authorities found no minimum evidence supporting his participation in criminal conduct. He also said the accusations made by the U.S. government were politically motivated and interventionist. These are Rocha Moya’s statements as reported by El Financiero; the story attributes the separate allegations about his alleged organized-crime links to U.S. authorities.

El Financiero further reports that the U.S. Justice Department accused Rocha Moya and nine other Sinaloa officials of alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. The source says a federal prosecutor in New York described an alleged conspiracy involving cartel leaders, narcotics imports and political support or bribes, and that U.S. authorities alleged an alignment with Los Chapitos during the 2021 election. Rocha Moya’s return does not by itself resolve those allegations, and this account preserves the source’s attribution and uncertainty. He said he would continue supporting the Fourth Transformation and its social-welfare project.