The U.S. Justice Department charged the governor of Mexico's Sinaloa state, ‌Ruben Rocha, and nine other government officials for their alleged connections to the Sinaloa cartel, La Jornada reported on April 29. The U.S. government has requested the capture and extradition of these 10 individuals, but the Mexican government said Washington has not presented enough evidence to justify such measures.

According to the indictment, Rocha and the others conspired with cartel leaders to traffic large quantities of drugs into the United States in exchange for bribes and political support. The sentences for those crimes range from 40 years to life in jail. Rocha denied wrongdoing. The indictments came after months of U.S. pressure on the Mexican government to investigate and prosecute politicians with alleged ties to organized criminal groups. While a U.S. indictment of a Mexican sitting governor is highly unusual, the United States arrested a former Mexican secretary of public security in 2023 and a general and former defense minister in 2020, both over similar charges.