U.S. Charges Mexican Governor With Drug Trafficking, Alleging Sinaloa Cartel Rigged His 2021 Election

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Sinaloa’s sitting governor and nine other current and former Mexican officials Wednesday with drug trafficking — in what the Justice Department described as the first U.S. indictment of a sitting Mexican governor.

The 34-page indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that Rubén Rocha Moya, 76, and his co-defendants conspired with the Sinaloa Cartel’s “Chapitos” faction — the organization run by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán — to smuggle fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the United States in exchange for political protection and support.

Among the most striking allegations: cartel operatives helped Rocha Moya win the 2021 Sinaloa gubernatorial election by kidnapping and threatening opposition candidates and stealing ballots cast for his rivals.

Who Is Named

The ten defendants span the highest levels of Sinaloa state government and law enforcement.

They include Enrique Inzunza Cazarez, a current sitting Mexican federal senator, who allegedly served as a go-between for the Chapitos and the governor’s office. Enrique Díaz Vega, a former Secretary of Administration and Finance, allegedly provided the cartel with names and addresses of political opponents. Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, the sitting mayor of Culiacán, is also named.

Dámaso Castro Zaavedra, a former state deputy attorney general, allegedly received roughly $11,000 per month from the Chapitos in exchange for shielding them from arrest. Juan Valenzuela Millán, a former police commander, faces additional charges tied to the killings of a DEA informant and the informant’s relative — counts that carry a mandatory life sentence.

Three additional former officials from Sinaloa’s state security apparatus round out the group.

The Drugs, the Evidence

Prosecutors cited a specific trafficking shipment as evidence. In May 2022, law enforcement in Phoenix, Arizona, seized roughly 189,000 fentanyl pills, two kilograms of fentanyl powder, half a kilogram of cocaine, and 15 pounds of methamphetamine in a load tied to the alleged conspiracy.

All defendants on the core narcotics counts face a mandatory minimum of 40 years if convicted.

What the U.S. Says

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton announced the charges alongside DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole.

“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,” Clayton said. “Let these charges send a clear message to all officials around the globe who work with narco-traffickers: no matter your title or position, we are committed to bringing you to justice.”

Cole called the Sinaloa Cartel “a designated terrorist organization that relies on corruption and bribery to drive violence and profit” and said the defendants “allegedly used positions of trust to protect cartel operations, enabling a pipeline of deadly drugs into our country.”

Mexico Pushes Back

Rocha Moya flatly rejected the charges in a public statement, calling them “a perverse strategy to violate the constitutional order” and characterizing the indictment as a politically motivated attack on Mexican sovereignty.

President Claudia Sheinbaum took a cautious line. She said Mexico’s attorney general would review the allegations but suggested Washington’s case may not hold up.

“If there is no clear evidence, it is evident that the objective of these accusations by the Department of Justice is political,” Sheinbaum said. She added that she told the governor directly: “If there is nothing, there is nothing to fear.”

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said the U.S. arrest documents it received “do not include the elements of proof” necessary to support extradition. The attorney general’s office said it had opened its own inquiry to determine whether Mexican law warrants arrest warrants.

Rocha Moya is a close ally of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and a member of Sheinbaum’s ruling Morena party. The case leaves her government in a politically uncomfortable position: neither openly defiant of Washington nor willing to hand over a sitting governor without an extended legal fight.

No arrest or extradition has been announced.