Extradition requests to Mexico from the United States have usually targeted cartel leaders and operatives or officials no longer in power. But when U.S. prosecutors unsealed a 100-page indictment on April 29, accusing Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya of directly collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel’s “Chapitos” faction, Washington crossed a new line — demanding the arrest of a sitting Mexican governor.
The request has plunged President Claudia Sheinbaum into a full-blown political crisis. Her party, Morena, is directly implicated. And the clock is ticking.
For now, Sheinbaum has chosen to resist.
“Under no circumstances are we going to permit the intrusion or interference of a foreign government in the decisions that belong exclusively to the people of Mexico,” she declared, demanding “overwhelming and irrefutable proof” from Washington. Her attorney general’s office has said the U.S. filing lacks sufficient evidence to justify even a provisional arrest, and has asked for more documentation.
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