US charges Sinaloa governor and other Mexican officials with drug trafficking offences

Indictment accuses high-level officials in Sinaloa of offences such as drug trafficking, weapons offences and kidnapping The US justice department has charged the governor of Sinaloa and nine other current and former Mexican officials for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel, accusing them 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. In her daily press conference on Thursday, Sheinbaum said her government would investigate the allegations – but suggested the motivation behind them might be political. “We will not cover up for anyone who has committed a crime,” she said. “However, if there is no clear evidence, it is evident that the objective of these charges by the Department of Justice is political.” 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 the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state since November 2021. The indi