MEXICO CITY — The governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state announced Saturday he is once again taking leave — a day after returning to office following a months-long absence after being indicted in the United States on drug-trafficking and other charges.
In a social media post, Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya said he had requested another leave of absence for at least 30 days.
“Sinaloa, the nation, and the movement of transformation are above everything,” Rocha Moya wrote. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The abrupt turnaround came as President Claudia Sheinbaum and other members of Mexico’s ruling Morena party — of which Rocha Moya is a member — assailed his decision announced Friday to resume his gubernatorial duties after a 112-day leave in the wake of the U.S. indictment.
Sheinbaum, writing on X early Saturday, expressed her disapproval of Rocha Moya’s decision to return as governor of northwestern state. The president didn’t mention him by name, but it was clear that he was the subject or her ire.
“No personal interest can ever stand above the interests of the people and the nation,” Sheinbaum wrote, assailing what she called “naked ambition of power for power’s sake.”
Her condemnation followed a slew of public comments from other erstwhile allies of the governor decrying his decision to return to office.
Amid the outcry, Rocha Moya announced Saturday night he was asking state lawmakers to grant him another leave — a request certain to be granted.
In April, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging Rocha Moya and nine current or former Sinaloa officials with drug trafficking and collaboratingwith the Sinaloa cartel, among other allegations.
The charges — marking the first time that U.S. prosecutors ever indicted a sitting Mexican governor — came as the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on corrupt Mexican politicians enabling organized crime.
Two days after the indictment was unveiled, Rocha Moya announced he was taking a leave of absence to defend himself against what he called “false and malicious” allegations.
To date, Mexican officials have rebuffed a Justice Department request that Rocha Moya, 77, be detained pending his extradition to the United States. U.S. authorities have not provided sufficient proof of wrongdoing to merit the governor’s arrest and extradition, Sheinbaum has said.
Special correspondnet Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.
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