US prosecutors charged a Mexican state governor with drug trafficking offences, according to an indictment unsealed on Wednesday, in a dramatic escalation of American officials’ campaign against cartels.
Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of the northern state of Sinaloa, and nine current and former senior police and government officials, were accused of protecting Sinaloa Cartel members in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes, according to the indictment in the Southern District of New York.
The indictment alleged the governor, a member of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s party, had allowed the Chapitos faction of the cartel “to operate with impunity” and install corrupt officials in positions of power. The Chapitos are run by the sons of its notorious jailed former leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.