Mexican authorities question governor wanted by US

CULIACAN: A Mexican governor recently charged by the US with narcotrafficking appeared for questioning before Mexican federal prosecutors for the first time on Tuesday, the politician said on X.

In late April, the US Justice Department accused Ruben Rocha Moya, the governor of Sinaloa, and nine others of working with the Sinaloa cartel to distribute “massive quantities” of narcotics to the US.

The indictment marked the first time the US had revealed charges against sitting Mexican politicians.

“I have the firm determination to respond to any calls to me made by investigative authorities, whenever they deem necessary,” Rocha Moya wrote on X, saying he had met with officials from the Attorney General’s Office in Culiacan, Sinaloa.

“I will not stop fighting for the truth to prevail,” he added.

The governor was not seen entering or exiting the prosecutor’s office.

Rocha Moya, 76, belongs to President Claudia Sheinbaum’s ruling Morena party.

In his X post, Rocha Moya appeared to reaffirm his loyalty to Sheinbaum, describing her leadership as “honest and statesmanlike” while saying she “fights with intelligence and deep patriotism for the absolute respect of our national sovereignty”.

In early May, Rocha Moya said he would take “temporary leave” from the governorship to fight the charges.

Mexican federal prosecutors made the request on Saturday for a meeting with Rocha Moya, who is also a close ally of former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Culiacan mayor Juan de Dios Gamez Mendivil and Sinaloa state deputy prosecutor Damaso Castro — both of whom were charged alongside Rocha Moya and have since remained in office — were also questioned on Tuesday.

The US has made extradition requests as part of the case against Rocha Moya and the others, with the Mexican government saying it would comply if the US provides “irrefutable” evidence to back up the charges.

Sheinbaum has insisted her government will not protect any politician tied to organised crime.

The charges are a sore point in US-Mexico relations and came shortly after two US officials — reportedly CIA officers — died in a drug-bust operation in the Mexican state of Chihuahua in mid-April.

المصدر: Free Malaysia Today