Prosecutors in the United States have formally accused Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine other current and former Mexican officials of drug trafficking and related weapons offenses, alleging that they colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of six Mexican criminal groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the charges in a statement released on Wednesday. It said the governor has allegedly attended meetings with “the Chapitos” — sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán — and has allowed the Sinaloa Cartel faction they lead to “operate with impunity in Sinaloa.”
Rocha, who represents the Morena party, promptly rejected the accusations against him.
The Justice Department statement — attributed specifically to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York — notes that an indictment unsealed on Wednesday charges the 76-year-old governor and nine other men with trafficking and related weapons offenses.
Those nine men are:
- Enrique Inzuna Cazarez, a Morena senator who represents Sinaloa in federal Congress.
- Enrique Díaz Vega, a former finance minister in Sinaloa.
- Dámaso Castro Zaavedra, deputy attorney general in Sinaloa.
- Marco Antonio Almanza Avilés, former head of the Sinaloa Investigative Police.
- Alberto Jorge Contreras Núñez, another former head of the Sinaloa Investigative Police.
- Gerardo Mérida Sánchez, a former Sinaloa security minister.
- José Antonio Dionisio Hipolito, a former deputy director of the Sinaloa State Police.
- Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, the current mayor of Culiacán.
- Juan Valenzuela Millán, a former high-level commander in the Culiacán Municipal Police.
All 10 suspects face sentences of up to life imprisonment if convicted on the charges they face.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in New York on Wednesday that “the Sinaloa Cartel is a ruthless criminal organization that has flooded this community with dangerous drugs for decades.”
“As the indictment lays bare, the Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug trafficking organizations like it, would not operate as freely or successfully without corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials on their payroll. The support of corrupt foreign officials for deadly trafficking of drugs must end,” he said.
The charges against Rocha
The Justice Department said that Rocha — a former federal senator and university rector who has been in office since 2021 — is accused of narcotics importation conspiracy; possession of machine guns and destructive devices; and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.”
It said that Rocha was elected governor “after the Chapitos allegedly helped him get elected by, among other things, kidnapping and intimidating his rivals.”
“In exchange, both before and after he became governor, Rocha Moya allegedly attended meetings with the Chapitos, at which he promised to protect the Chapitos as they distributed massive quantities of drugs to the United States,” the Justice Department said.
“… As Governor, Rocha Moya has allowed the Chapitos to operate with impunity in Sinaloa,” the statement added.
Two of the Chapitos — Ovidio Guzmán López and Joaquín Guzmán López — are in U.S. custody. Their brothers Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar are fugitives. The Chapitos and another Sinaloa Cartel faction, Los Mayos, are involved in a long-running — and very bloody — dispute related to the alleged kidnapping and transfer to the U.S. of cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada in July 2024.
The charges against Rocha are reminiscent of those faced by former federal security minister Genaro García Luna, who in 2023 was convicted in a U.S. court of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel. In 2024, García Luna was sentenced to just over 38 years in prison.
Rocha ‘categorically’ rejects accusations
In a social media post on Wednesday afternoon, Rocha wrote:
“I categorically and absolutely reject the charges brought against me by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, as they lack truth and any foundation.”
The governor said his innocence will be proven beyond doubt in due course.
“This attack isn’t solely against me, but also against the movement of the Fourth Transformation, its emblematic leaders and the Mexican women and men who represent that cause,” Rocha wrote.
The Fourth Transformation, or 4T, is the Morena-led political movement spearheaded by President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Rocha also wrote that the charges against him are part of a “perverse strategy to violate the constitutional order, specifically the national sovereignty enshrined in Article 40 of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, which our movement defends as an invariable and non-negotiable principle.”
The governor concluded his post with a message “to the people of Sinaloa.”
“I say to you that, with the courage and dignity that characterize us, we will demonstrate the lack of foundation of this libel.”
During a large anti-violence march in Culiacán last September, protesters demanded the resignation of Rocha, whose popularity fell due to his government’s failure to contain violence related to the Sinaloa Cartel infighting. There has long been speculation about his alleged involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Justice Department accuses all suspects of colluding with the Chapitos
In its statement, the Justice Department said that “each of the defendants has participated in a corrupt and violent drug trafficking conspiracy with the [Sinaloa] Cartel to import massive amounts of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine from Mexico into the United States.”
It said that “the defendants have played a variety of essential roles for the Cartel.”
The Justice Department said they have:
- Allegedly shielded Cartel leaders from investigation, arrest and prosecution.
- Caused sensitive law enforcement and military information to be provided to members of the Cartel and allied drug traffickers to assist the Cartel’s criminal activities.
- Directed members of state and local law enforcement agencies, such as the Sinaloa State Police, the Investigative Police for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office and the Culiacán Municipal Police, to protect drug loads stored in and transiting through Mexico to the United States.
- Allowed brutal drug-related violence to be committed by members of the Cartel without consequence.
In exchange for that alleged collusion, “the defendants have collectively received millions of dollars in drug money from the Cartel,” the Justice Department said.
It also said that “as alleged, the defendants have been most closely aligned with the faction of the Cartel run by the sons of Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, aka ‘El Chapo,’ the Cartel’s notorious former leader, who are themselves known collectively as the ‘Chapitos.’”
“The defendants have operated at all levels of government and law enforcement in Sinaloa and each abused their positions of trust and authority to help facilitate the Chapitos’ operations,” the Justice Department said.
“… For example, [Castro] Zaavedra, who is the Deputy Attorney General for the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office, has received approximately $11,000 U.S. dollars each month from the Chapitos and, in exchange, has protected Chapitos members from arrest and informed the Chapitos of planned U.S.-backed law enforcement operations.”
The Justice Department said that Millán, the former Culiacán Police commander, is also “charged with offenses related to his participation in kidnappings of a DEA source and the source’s relative that resulted in their deaths.”
“… In or about October 2023, Millán allegedly helped the Chapitos kidnap a DEA confidential source and the source’s relative, who the Chapitos then had tortured and killed, because the source was suspected of providing information to the Government in connection with this investigation.”
US ambassador responds to criminal charges against Rocha and other officials
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson issued a statement in response to the unsealing of criminal charges against Governor Rocha and the other nine defendants.
Accountability for the Safety of Our Peoples 🇺🇸🇲🇽https://t.co/udTIVwKbKg pic.twitter.com/pWCSyp9k8l
— Embajador Ronald Johnson (@USAmbMex) April 29, 2026
“While we cannot comment on the individual facts of these indictments, and the legal process will need to play out, one thing is certain: corruption that enables organized crime and harms both our countries will be investigated and prosecuted wherever U.S. jurisdiction applies,” the statement said.
During a visit to Sinaloa last week, Johnson said that the private sector “needs certainty, security and an environment free of corruption” in order for investment in Mexico to “prosper.”
Citing “sources familiar with the bilateral relationship,” The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that the anti-corruption remarks made by Ambassador Johnson in Sinaloa “mark the launching … of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign by the Trump administration targeting Mexican officials suspected of having links to organized crime.”
President Sheinbaum responded to that report by saying that “the fight against corruption” in Mexico is the responsibility of the Mexican government, the Federal Attorney General’s Office and state Attorney General’s Offices. As of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, she hadn’t commented on the U.S. accusations against Rocha and the nine other suspects, all of who hold or formerly held positions of power and influence in Sinaloa, one of Mexico’s most violent states.
Mexico News Daily
