Rubén Rocha Moya, the Sinaloa governor who is accused of drug trafficking by U.S. prosecutors, returned to office on Friday — only to ask to go on leave again the very next day.
The 77-year-old governor’s submission of a request to take indefinite leave came after representatives of his own party — Morena — rejected his decision to return to the governorship of Sinaloa almost four months after he first left office. The Sinaloa Congress approved his leave request on Sunday.
In a social media post on Saturday, President Claudia Sheinbaum also indicated that she didn’t agree with Rocha’s decision to return to office. The president — the leader of the “fourth transformation” (4T) movement with which Rocha is also affiliated — explicitly expressed that position on Monday.
Rocha, who became governor of Sinaloa in late 2021, first decided to take leave in early May shortly after the unsealing of a U.S. indictment accusing him and nine other current and former Sinaloa-based officials of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde sworn in as interim governor of Sinaloa
The U.S. Justice Department said on April 29 that the governor allegedly attended meetings with “the Chapitos” — sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán — and allowed the Sinaloa Cartel faction they lead to “operate with impunity in Sinaloa.”
Rocha, who is also accused of weapons offenses, promptly rejected the accusations against him. To date, he has avoided extradition to the United States as — according to the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in Mexico — U.S. authorities have not presented sufficient evidence against him. Sheinbaum has endorsed the FGR’s view and stressed that Mexican legal processes and sovereignty must be respected. However, now, more than ever, she is seeking to distance herself and her government from Rocha, whose indictment has raised serious and broader questions about alleged corruption and alleged collusion between Morena and organized crime.
The governor’s decision to return to office on Friday surprised — and in some cases outraged — millions of Mexicans, including members of the federal government. His brief return to office restored his constitutional immunity from prosecution, according to experts, but he presumably lost that immunity (called fuero in Mexico) by going on leave once again.
Here is a timeline of relevant events between Friday. Aug. 21 and Monday, Aug. 24.
Friday morning: Rocha announces his return to office
In a social media post shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday, Rocha announced that he had resumed his position as governor of Sinaloa.
“It is my duty to fulfill the mandate of the people of Sinaloa, who elected me as head of the executive branch to govern until October 31, 2027,” he wrote.
“During the period of my temporary leave from office, which I requested from the State Congress on May 1 of this year, I placed myself at the disposal of our country’s justice system in order to be investigated regarding the false accusations … that a U.S. government office leveled against me without any evidence, seeking to undermine our national sovereignty through its statements and slander,” Rocha wrote.
The governor wrote that he had personally appeared before the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) during his leave of absence. That institute, he said, determined that there was no evidence against him.
“In other words, I haven’t committed any crime,” Rocha wrote.
“… Today I return to fulfilling my duties as Governor of Sinaloa with a clear conscience, with my head held high, and with the power of the truth on our side.”
Early Friday afternoon: SEGOB says that Rocha’s decision to return to office was a ‘personal’ one
In a statement issued early Friday afternoon, the federal Interior Ministry (SEGOB) sought to distance the federal government from Rocha’s decision to return to office.
“The Interior Ministry reports that the decision of Dr. Rubén Rocha Moya to resume his duties as governor of the state of Sinaloa is exclusively a determination of a personal nature,” SEGOB said.
The ministry noted that the FGR opened investigations into the 10 people accused of drug trafficking and weapons offenses by U.S. prosecutors, among whom is Rocha, a Morena senator and the mayor of Culiacán.
SEGOB highlighted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked the U.S. Department of Justice on repeated occasions to “provide the evidence that supports the accusations.”
“In that sense, it is up to the Federal Attorney General’s Office, within the domain of its powers and in accordance with the advance of the investigations, to provide additional information it considers pertinent,” the Interior Ministry said.
Late Friday afternoon: Morena lawmakers speak out
Later on Friday afternoon, Morena deputies expressed their opposition to Rocha’s decision to return to office.
In a statement, Morena deputies called on the governor to “reconsider his decision” so that the FGR and “other authorities” can continue and conclude their investigations “with full autonomy.”
Comunicado del Grupo Parlamentario de Morena pic.twitter.com/5S3wYRYkB7
— Arturo Ávila. (@arturoavila_mx) August 22, 2026
Morena senators echoed SEGOB’s sentiment, saying in a statement that Rocha’s decision to return to office was a “personal and individual action.”
Friday evening: Morena governors weigh in
The Morena governors of 22 states as well as Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada and the Green Party governor of San Luis Potosí released a statement on Friday evening expressing their opposition to Rocha’s return to office in Sinaloa.
“In the fourth transformation, individual decisions will never be above the collective project or the citizens’ mandate,” said the 4T political leaders.
“… No authority is empowered to act at the margin of the law or to take unilateral decisions that threaten constitutional order or republican dialogue,” they said.
“Personal or group political projects have no place when they counteract the well-being of the nation. We call on Dr. Rubén Rocha Moya to act with maturity and responsibility,” said the 23 governors and Brugada.
“Politics is an exercise of congruence. Excess and factional decisions go against principles of honesty and loyalty that we swore to uphold.”
Saturday morning: Sheinbaum enters the fray
In a social media post on Friday morning, Sheinbaum announced that she was sick with the flu and therefore didn’t perform any public duties that day, and didn’t comment on Rocha’s return to office.
The president returned to social media on Saturday morning to publish a message that was clearly aimed at Rocha, although she didn’t mention the governor by name.
“No personal interest can ever be above the interests of the people and the nation,” she wrote.
“And certainly not when what is being placed above Mexico is not the well-being of its people, but the naked ambition of power for power’s sake,” Sheinbaum said.
“… Power without principles becomes arrogance; power without limits becomes abuse; and power that forgets the people ultimately finds itself at odds with history,” she wrote.
Ningún interés personal puede estar jamás por encima de los intereses del pueblo y de la Nación. Y mucho menos cuando aquello que se pretende colocar por encima de México no es el bienestar de su gente, sino la ambición desnuda del poder por el poder.
Porque el poder sin…— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) August 22, 2026
“Mexico deserves public servants who understand that positions are temporary, but the responsibility to the nation is eternal. The people are not here to feed personal ambitions: they are here to demand that their dignity, their future, and their hope be defended. Above any name, any group, and any personal interest stand the people and the nation.”
In a separate social media post on Saturday morning, the director of the Sinaloa-based Noroeste newspaper, Adrían López Ortiz, wrote:
“I see many outsiders saying that Sinaloenses are speaking out against Rocha. I’ll give you a fact. Yesterday, @noroestemx tried to ask people in the center of Culiacán what they thought about his return [but] they were scared to respond on camera.”
Sinaloa is a violence-plagued state where the Los Chapitos and Los Mayos factions of the Sinaloa Cartel are engaged in a long-running and extremely bloody civil war. Cartel violence has ravaged the Sinaloa economy and led many residents to take extra safety precautions, such as limiting their movements at night.
Saturday evening: Rocha heeds Sheinbaum’s words
In a social media post on Saturday evening, Rocha published a letter addressed to the president of the Sinaloa Congress in which he requested “temporary leave” of an “indefinite nature” from his job as governor.
Above the letter, he wrote: “Sinaloa, the nation and the transformation movement are above everything.”
Sunday morning: Sinaloa Congress approves Rocha’s leave request
In an extraordinary session on Sunday morning, Sinaloa state lawmakers unanimously approved Rocha’s request to go on indefinite leave.
Monday morning: Sheinbaum says Rocha’s decision to return to office was ‘imprudent’
At her Monday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said that she found out about Rocha’s decision to return to the governorship of Sinaloa via his social media post on Friday.
“I didn’t have any prior knowledge that he wanted to return to his duties in the state of Sinaloa,” she said.
“The truth is that I didn’t think it was appropriate, to say the least,” Sheinbaum said.
Later in the press conference, the president explicitly said she didn’t agree with Rocha’s decision to return to the governorship of Sinaloa.
“At the very least, I thought it was imprudent,” Sheinbaum said.
“… Nothing personal can be above the interests of the people of Sinaloa and the people of Mexico,” she said.
Sheinbaum said on Sunday that Rocha’s decision to once again leave the governorship was “the best thing for Sinaloa.”
On Monday, she noted that the Sinaloa Congress has to appoint an interim governor until a new governor takes office in late 2027 following the Sinaloa gubernatorial election in June of next year. She said that the interim governor should be a person who is honest, professional and dedicated to “the people of Sinaloa.”
Sheinbaum subsequently described claims that former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told Rocha to return to the governorship of Sinaloa as “political fiction.”
