MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and her allies have reacted furiously to a U.S. indictment of Rubén Rocha, the governor of Sinaloa and a member of her ruling Morena party, accusing Washington of meddling in Mexico’s internal affairs and violating the country’s sovereignty.
“Let’s be clear: First they come for some, then for others, until offices of the Department of Justice decide elections in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said during a speech Sunday beneath a giant monument honoring the Mexican Revolution. “We can’t allow that.”
Sheinbaum has largely responded with restraint to a pressure campaign from President Trump, absorbing tariffs, insults and threats of unilateral U.S. military action against drug cartels with little pushback, according to the Wall Street Journal. The dispute over the indictment marks one of the sharpest confrontations between the two countries in decades and reflects growing displeasure inside the Mexican government over what officials view as escalating U.S. demands.
The tensions drew a rare response from former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum’s nationalist mentor and predecessor, who had pledged to stay out of public life unless Mexico’s sovereignty was threatened. He said the Trump administration’s “onslaught” was intended to pressure Sheinbaum’s government and intervene in Mexico.
The U.S. request for Rocha’s arrest and extradition stunned Mexico’s political establishment. While several former governors have been extradited to face drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges in recent decades, it was the first time U.S. prosecutors targeted a sitting governor.
“An event of this magnitude is unprecedented in the history of our bilateral relationship,” Sheinbaum said. “Mexico is nobody’s piñata!”
Rocha was indicted in April on allegations that he allowed leaders of the Sinaloa cartel to smuggle drugs into the U.S. in exchange for political support and bribes. Sheinbaum has refused U.S. requests to extradite him, arguing that the case amounts to political interference. Mexico has opened criminal investigations into the 10 Sinaloa officials and frozen their bank accounts. Rocha and the mayor of Culiacán have taken leaves of absence while the investigations proceed.
Sheinbaum’s vigorous defense of Rocha carries political risks. Corruption has become a top concern for Mexicans, according to polls, while Rocha remains broadly unpopular in Sinaloa and elsewhere in the country.
Trump is simply carrying out a promise to take on drug cartels, said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “The president will continue to protect Americans from these vicious criminals and the drugs they use to poison our country,” she said.
The accusations against Rocha and nine other current and former officials have put Sheinbaum and her ruling Morena party on the defensive. Other Mexican officials are under investigation in the U.S., and the Justice Department expects to announce more indictments, said a person familiar with the matter.
Frustration is growing inside the Mexican government with what officials view as the Trump administration’s seemingly insatiable demands. In the view of Sheinbaum’s inner circle, Washington rarely credits Mexico for its cooperation, has offered little relief from tariffs and has shown scant concern for the political repercussions as U.S. prosecutors target senior members of Morena.
“It’s the moment of highest tension between Mexico and the U.S. since the 1970s,” said Jorge Castañeda, a former Mexican foreign minister.
Mexican officials were particularly angered by the way the Rocha case was handled, people familiar with the matter said. U.S. authorities didn’t provide the advance notice that has often accompanied sensitive cases involving senior Mexican politicians, despite unprecedented cooperation in recent years that helped capture or kill top cartel bosses at significant cost to domestic security forces.
The standoff comes as the Trump administration expands pressure on Mexican cartels. Trump signed a finding that granted the Central Intelligence Agency broader authority to conduct covert operations against cartel members deemed to pose an imminent threat to the U.S. Sheinbaum has said Mexico welcomes intelligence sharing and law-enforcement cooperation but doesn’t permit direct U.S. involvement in operations on Mexican soil.
Sheinbaum noted that the Rocha indictment came days after two CIA agents died in a car accident following an antidrug operation that Sheinbaum said wasn’t vetted by her government. Mexico sent a diplomatic note requesting that two other CIA agents involved in the operation leave the country.
“And they left,” Sheinbaum said at a recent news conference.
Despite the pointed rhetoric, Sheinbaum has stopped short of accusing Trump directly of trying to destabilize her government. Instead, she has blamed members of the U.S. far right who, she says, want the two countries to have a bad relationship.
She has said cooperation with Washington will continue while warning that Mexico won’t tolerate interference in its domestic politics. Her Morena party recently passed legislation that would allow elections to be annulled in cases of foreign meddling.
Sheinbaum’s government has said the evidence supporting Rocha’s arrest and extradition is insufficient. Yet at least one of the indicted officials — the state’s former security chief — has surrendered to U.S. authorities.
Any prosecutions also threaten to expose additional details about ties between politicians and organized crime, raising the prospect of further embarrassment for Morena and increasing the risk that Sheinbaum could be portrayed as protecting officials wanted by the U.S.