Mexico said it will investigate a new U.S. indictment accusing 10 current and former Mexican officials of links to the Sinaloa Cartel, as President Claudia Sheinbaum argued that Mexico would not let foreign governments meddle in the country’s legal decisions. Sheinbaum said Thursday that Mexican prosecutors would examine the cases and gather their own information, after the indictment was unsealed in New York on Wednesday and prompted political backlash at home.
The U.S. indictment charges Mexican officials in the northern state of Sinaloa, and includes sitting officials as well as former officials, according to the report. It accuses them of drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons in connection with the Sinaloa Cartel, a case that quickly became a flash point as Sheinbaum tries to counter U.S. demands for tougher cartel enforcement while also responding to pressure from her domestic political base with a sovereignty message.
Mexico’s government said it had seen an extradition request from the United States for the 10 citizens, but also said the request did not provide enough evidence to warrant arrests. The approach sets up a parallel track: U.S. legal action on one side and Mexican review on the other, with Sheinbaum positioning the dispute as one about process and authority.
Sheinbaum emphasized that Mexican prosecutors would look at whether there is enough evidence to support the U.S. claims. She said she was prepared to “put [her] foot down” if Mexican investigations find “no clear evidence” that the people charged committed a crime, and she made a specific argument that foreign pressure would not determine Mexico’s legal outcomes.
Speaking directly to the allegation that the U.S. case could be politically driven, Sheinbaum warned that if it is evident the U.S. Justice Department charges are politically motivated, “under no circumstances will we allow a foreign government to interfere in decisions that are the exclusive prerogative of the Mexican people,” according to the report.
The indictment drew attention in part because the highest-profile official implicated was Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya, described as a close ally of Sheinbaum’s mentor and predecessor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Rocha, who is a top figure in Mexico’s Morena party, rejected the accusations in a social media post, saying on Wednesday that they “lack any basis in truth.”
The indictment also implicated other officials from Morena, including the mayor of Sinaloa’s capital and a senator, the report said, along with additional officials. Those officials, including Rocha, characterized the allegations as an attack on their left-leaning political movement, as the case spread through Mexico’s political landscape.
The U.S. indictment alleges that the defendants shielded Sinaloa Cartel leaders from investigation, arrest, and prosecution. It also alleges they fed the cartel with sensitive law enforcement and military information, directed law enforcement agencies to protect drug shipments, and allowed the cartel to commit violent acts “without consequence,” in return for which, the indictment says, the defendants received millions of dollars in drug proceeds.
Separately, Mexico’s legal response also intersects with questions of immunity. Ulises Lara, Mexico’s deputy attorney general, said in a video released Wednesday that sitting officials would need to be impeached before Mexican authorities could take major action to lift their legal immunity, and he criticized what he described as the U.S. release of details about the case, calling them “detrimental to the confidential nature of criminal proceedings.”
Security analysts told the report that Sheinbaum’s administration has detained local officials tied to corruption as part of its broader cartel crackdown, but that those actions have not yet reached Morena’s political elite where suspicions of cartel ties could be concentrated. David Saucedo said the government had not tried to investigate officials in that higher political tier, adding that Sheinbaum could either “clean house” or face increased pressure from a U.S. administration seeking action, the report said.
The case also lands amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Mexico, with the report describing President Donald Trump’s more aggressive Latin America posture in recent decades. It also noted that the U.S. involvement in Mexico has come under public scrutiny after two CIA agents died in a car crash following a counter-narcotics operation alongside state officials in Chihuahua—an incident Sheinbaum said did not have federal authorization and which she said she did not want to see repeated, while also indicating she did not want conflict with the U.S. over the matter.