MEXICO CITY, Aug 21 (Reuters) – The governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha, returned to office on Friday after taking leave for more than three months following U.S. drug trafficking charges alleging ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, a move likely to deepen strains between Mexico and the United States.
Rocha, 77, a member of Mexico’s ruling Morena party, said he was resuming his duties after Mexican authorities found no evidence to support the accusations against him.
In a statement posted on X, Rocha denied wrongdoing and cast the U.S. case as a politically motivated attack on Mexico’s sovereignty and on the leftist movement led by President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mexico has so far declined to act on U.S. efforts to bring Rocha into custody, saying Washington has not provided sufficient evidence to justify domestic arrest warrants or extradition.
For U.S. officials, the April indictment marked a rare expansion of anti-cartel action beyond drug bosses to include a sitting senior Mexican politician.
U.S. prosecutors alleged Rocha and nine other current and former officials conspired with a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel known as Los Chapitos, helping it traffic drugs into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes.
Rocha has repeatedly denied the allegations. He stepped aside temporarily in early May as Mexican authorities reviewed the case, and said on Friday he was returning with his “head held high.”
(Reporting by Diego Ore and Kylie Madry; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon)
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