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The embattled governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state has reversed his decision to return to his post, bowing to an extraordinary backlash from his own ruling party over accusations by U.S. prosecutors he conspired with a powerful cartel to smuggle drugs into the United States.
State lawmakers were expected Sunday to approve Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya’s request for an indefinite leave of absence, about a day and a half after he announced his return by claiming Mexican prosecutors had cleared him of the drug trafficking charges leveled against him by the U.S. Department of Justice in late April.
The rapid reversal demonstrated the authority Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wields over her Morena party as she walks a fine line between placating U.S. President Donald Trump, who says cartels control Mexico and has repeatedly offered U.S. military help to fight them, and her progressive movement deeply wary of U.S. intervention.
After nearly four months on leave, Rocha Moya announced Friday that he was returning to office, claiming Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office had found “no evidence to support our participation in any criminal conduct.” He declared that he was back “as governor of Sinaloa with my head held high.”
That defiance lasted barely a day, as his return unleashed a torrent of criticism from governors, senators and other prominent figures in Morena, including Sheinbaum.
“No personal interest can ever come before the interests of the people and the nation,” she wrote Saturday in an apparent rebuke of Rocha Moya, without mentioning him by name. “Mexico deserves public servants who understand that positions are temporary, but responsibility to the nation is eternal.”
Morena said its national leadership had no prior knowledge of Rocha Moya’s return, calling it his “personal decision.” The party’s Senate bloc urged respect for the ongoing investigation, while Morena governors declared in a joint statement that “personal or group political projects have no place” when the country’s interests are at stake.
Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s leader in the lower house of Congress, publicly urged Rocha Moya, his longtime ally, to reconsider and remain on leave.
