{"id":8764,"date":"2026-05-01T16:37:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8764"},"modified":"2026-05-01T16:37:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:37:42","slug":"mexico-will-extradite-officials-to-u-s-only-if-given-irrefutable-evidence-of-cartel-links-president-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=8764","title":{"rendered":"Mexico will extradite officials to U.S. only if given “irrefutable evidence” of cartel links, president says"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mexico is seeking “irrefutable evidence” to back up U.S. drug trafficking charges against a state governor and other officials<\/span> before proceeding with extradition requests, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Justice Department unveiled charges on Wednesday against Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya and nine others, accusing them of working with the notorious Sinaloa cartel<\/span>\u00a0to distribute “massive quantities” of narcotics to the United States.<\/p>\n

Rocha Moya, a member of the Sheinbaum’s left-leaning Morena party and close ally of her predecessor, has governed the violent state since 2021. The other accused officials are also part of Morena.<\/p>\n

“If the Office of the Attorney General… receives solid and irrefutable evidence in accordance with Mexican law, or if, in the course of its own investigation, it finds elements constituting a crime, it must comply” with the U.S. extradition request, Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference.<\/p>\n

She added that if evidence was not provided or found, it will be evident that “the goal of these Justice Department accusations is political.”<\/p>\n

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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during her daily press conference, at the National Palace, in Mexico City, Mexico on April 30, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Daniel Cardenas\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Sheinbaum noted this was the first time that the U.S. had made narcotrafficking charges public against a sitting governor or other high-ranking official.<\/p>\n

“We aren’t going to protect anyone,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sheinbaum explained that among the proof presented was a piece of paper that shows alleged bribe payments to the accused politicians.<\/p>\n

In a statement posted to social media, Rocha Moya said he “categorically and absolutely” rejects the charges from U.S. officials, saying the accusations were an “attack.”<\/p>\n

“It is part of a perverse strategy to violate the constitutional order, specifically on national sovereignty, ” he wrote Wednesday in a\u00a0post on X. “We will show them that this slander doesn’t have any sort of foundation.”<\/p>\n

Rocha Moya was a staunch ally of Sheinbaum’s mentor,\u00a0former President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador<\/span>. The governor enthusiastically backed the ex-president’s “Hugs, Not Bullets” policy, which involved avoiding direct confrontation with powerful drug cartels. L\u00f3pez Obrador built a political platform by railing against endemic corruption plaguing Mexican politics.<\/p>\n

The indictment alleges some of those named have themselves participated in the\u00a0Sinaloa cartel’s campaign of violence and retribution.<\/p>\n

The indictment alleged that they were closely aligned with the Sinaloa cartel faction known as the Chapitos, which is run by the sons of Joaqu\u00edn “El Chapo” Guzm\u00e1n,\u00a0the ex-cartel leader\u00a0now serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.<\/p>\n

According to a 2023 U.S. indictment, the Chapitos and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution and hot chiles to\u00a0torture their rivals<\/span>\u00a0while some of their victims were “fed dead or alive to tigers.”<\/p>\n

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The Associated Press<\/span><\/p>\n

contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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