Rubén Rocha Moya announced Saturday that he is once again taking an indefinite leave of absence. The decision reverses a short-lived return to office that sparked a severe political backlash within his own ruling party.
Rocha Moya Reverses Course Again
State lawmakers in Sinaloa were expected Sunday to approve the governor’s request to step aside, according to reports from The Associated Press.
The rapid about-face occurred barely a day and a half after Rocha Moya reclaimed his post on Friday. Upon returning, the 77-year-old governor claimed that Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office had found no evidence to link him to criminal conduct, declaring to the public that he was back in office with his head held high.
Swift Condemnation From Party Leadership
That defiance triggered immediate condemnation from senior figures across the governing Morena party.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued a public rebuke Saturday without mentioning Rocha Moya by name.
“No personal interest can ever come before the interests of the people and the nation,” she wrote. “Mexico deserves public servants who understand that positions are temporary, but responsibility to the nation is eternal.”
Morena’s national leadership distanced itself from the move, stating they had no prior knowledge of the governor’s return and labeling it a personal decision. Meanwhile, Morena governors released a joint statement emphasizing that personal or group political projects have no place when national interests are at stake.
Ricardo Monreal, the leader of Morena in the lower house of Congress and a longtime ally of Rocha Moya, publicly urged him to reconsider and remain on leave.
Isolated Governor Steps Down Again
Isolated by the coordinated party response, Rocha Moya announced late Saturday that he had formally asked the state legislature to let him step down indefinitely.
“Sinaloa, the nation and the transformation movement come first,” he wrote.
Rocha Moya originally went on leave in early May, just days after federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment accusing him and nine other current and former Mexican officials of shielding Sinaloa cartel members.
According to U.S. prosecutors, the defendants accepted bribes while cartel factions trafficked fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine into the United States.
Bilateral Strain and Legal Uncertainty
The indictment represented a major escalation by Washington regarding official corruption enabling Mexican cartels, straining bilateral ties.
While Sheinbaum has denied shielding Rocha Moya, her administration rejected U.S. requests to arrest and extradite the indicted officials without credible evidence, insisting that any legal proceedings occur inside Mexico.
Legal scholars in Mexico remain divided on whether Rocha Moya’s initial leave stripped him of the constitutional immunity attached to his office, and whether his fresh request for an indefinite departure alters that legal standing.
Following the unsealing of the U.S. indictment earlier this year, the mayor of the Sinaloa capital Culiacán and the state’s deputy attorney general also resigned, while two former senior state officials surrendered directly to U.S. authorities.
State lawmakers are scheduled to convene Sunday to act on the governor’s latest leave request.
