Rubén Rocha, Sinaloa governor, attends the inauguration of the Santa Fe bridge, in Culiacán, Mexico, on July 17, 2025. David Gaspar/Reuters
The governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa has returned to his office after momentarily stepping aside in May, as U.S. prosecutors accused him of facilitating cartel activity in the state.
“Today, I have resumed the exercise of my role as Constitutional Governor of the State of Sinaloa,” Rubén Rocha Moya said in a statement on Aug. 21.
On April 29, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that it had obtained an indictment against Moya and nine other current and former Mexican officials, charging them with drug trafficking and weapons offenses.
Moya, 76, was specifically charged with narcotics importation conspiracy, unlawful possession of machine guns, and conspiracy to unlawfully possess machine guns. He has consistently denied the allegations.
The U.S. Department of Justice sought Moya’s extradition, but he has remained in Mexico since the charges were announced.
On May 1, Moya announced that he would take a leave of absence while Mexican authorities reviewed the matter. In its initial response to the indictment, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said the U.S. extradition request included no additional evidence to substantiate the alleged crimes.
As he announced his return to office on Aug. 21, Moya said he had cooperated with Mexican authorities.
“After 112 days of investigation, as the Attorney General’s Office itself has already reported in a press conference to the media, there are no minimum elements of proof that support our involvement in any criminal conduct—or in other words, I have committed no crime, in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework of our country,” Moya wrote.
The Mexican Interior Ministry has since said that Moya’s return to office was his personal decision and that Mexican authorities are still investigating the matter.
“At the time, the Attorney General’s Office reported that it maintains open investigation files related to the 10 people named by the United States Department of Justice, including the governor of Sinaloa,” the Mexican Interior Ministry said.
The indictment alleges that a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel terrorist group stole ballots and intimidated opposition candidates to help Moya win the governor’s election in 2021. In turn, Moya is alleged to have helped install other cartel-aligned individuals in positions of state and local authority throughout Sinaloa, who then facilitated illicit cartel activities.
Last year, the U.S. federal government designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.
The charges against Moya carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years in prison, with the potential for life in prison.
