Mexican federal officials acknowledged they had received an extradition request from the United States, but said they did not have enough evidence to respond.
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Extending its campaign against the Sinaloa cartel, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday that federal prosecutors have indicted nine Mexican government officials on charges of aiding and abetting the notorious drug lord.
Those indicted include the governor of Mexico’s Sinaloa state.
“The Sinaloa Cartel and other drug trafficking organizations like it would not be able to operate as freely or as successfully without the salaries of corrupt politicians and law enforcement officials,” Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “Corrupt foreign officials’ support of deadly drug trafficking must end. These indictments send a clear message to all officials around the world who collaborate with drug traffickers.”
According to a federal indictment, Mexican state officials “participated” in cartel operations by protecting drug traffickers “from investigation, arrest, and prosecution” and protecting drug shipments in exchange for “millions of dollars in drug funds from the cartels.”
Mexican officials named in the indictment “categorically and absolutely” deny the charges.
“I categorically and completely deny the charges brought against me by the federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York, as they lack any truth or basis, and will be vindicated as such at the appropriate time and to the fullest extent possible,” Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya said in a statement. “And I say to the people of Sinalone, with all the courage and dignity that characterizes us, we will prove that this slander is baseless.”
Others indicted include former and current state law enforcement officials and the mayor of Culiacán, Sinaloa’s capital and cartel stronghold.
Juan de Dios Gamez Mendivil, the mayor of a city where Mexican security forces have been battling cartels in recent years, also denied the charges.
The mayor said, “I deny the allegations that have been made public. There is no basis.” “Throughout my life, I have always obeyed the law and acted responsibly in public service.”
Charges against the group include conspiracy to import drugs, kidnapping resulting in death, and possession of a machine gun. If found guilty, all will be sentenced to life in prison.
Asked for comment, the Mexican Embassy in the United States shared a statement from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating that it was aware of the charges and had received an extradition request from the United States, but that Mexican federal authorities had no intention of extraditing the accused state employees.
“Based on the legal investigation conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the bilateral extradition treaty, the documents received from the U.S. Embassy do not contain sufficient evidence to establish the liability of the person whose provisional arrest is sought for extradition purposes,” the officials said.
How can they be accused of being part of a cartel?
Federal prosecutors have accused Mexican state authorities of complicity in cartels’ efforts to move large amounts of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the United States.
According to the Justice Department, cooperation between Sinalone government officials and cartel members was evident. Prosecutors said Rocha Moya, 76, met with cartel leaders and “promised to protect” them.
Federal officials say the cartel helped elect governor in 2021 by “kidnapping and threatening rivals.”
Among other charges, the Justice Department said Sinaloa State Deputy Attorney General Damaso Castro Zaavedra received $11,000 a month for reporting U.S. law enforcement activities to cartels, and former Culiacan police commander Juan Valenzuela Milan received $1,600 a month to protect cartel operations in the city.
Milan helped cartel members kidnap a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration informant in October 2023, who was then tortured and killed, according to the Justice Department.
Latest effort to pursue cartels linked to El Chapo family
The Justice Department said the Mexican state officials charged in the case are suspected of working with the Chapitos, a faction run by the Sinaloa Cartel, run by the sons of former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
The faction, led by the sons of a former kingpin who was sentenced to life in federal prison in 2019, became known for breaking some of the rules their father had followed to control the illegal drug trade, experts said.
Their actions shook Sinaloa. Last summer, Mexican authorities discovered 20 bodies, including some decapitated and four left hanging from a highway bridge, believed to be the victims of a turf war between Chapitos and rival Sinaloa faction La Meiza.
Federal prosecutors have been working to crush this sect for years. El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, pleaded guilty to federal charges last summer. At the time, Guzmán López’s lawyer suggested his client could shed light on corruption in Mexico.
Two of El Chapo’s sons remain at large.
