Rubén Rocha, the Most Troublesome Governor for Mexico's President
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
MEXICO CITY — Rubén Rocha Moya, a 76-year-old politician from the ruling Morena party, has not only been one of the most challenging governors for Mexico's president, but on Wednesday, he became the first sitting governor formally accused by Donald Trump's administration of having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. This development has placed the president in a difficult position: choosing between her party or relations with the United States. Rocha, a career professor, former rector of Sinaloa's university, and twice a gubernatorial candidate, was a historical ally of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024) and served as a senator before taking office as governor of Sinaloa in late 2021. Sinaloa, located in Mexico's Pacific Northwest, is the birthplace of some of the country's most notorious drug traffickers and a stronghold of one of the world's most powerful criminal organizations, labeled a terrorist group by Trump's administration. Rocha was a staunch supporter of López Obrador's 'Hugs, Not Bullets' strategy, which aimed to address the root causes of violence but was widely criticized by analysts for failing to combat cartels, allowing them to expand territorial control across many regions. His alleged connections to members of the Sinaloa Cartel have long shadowed him, partly because Rocha hails from Badiraguato, the same municipality where Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán Loera was born, and is nearly of the same generation as the cartel's founders, Guzmán and Ismael 'El Mayo' Zambada, both currently imprisoned in the United States. Rocha also accompanied the former president on controversial visits, including one where López Obrador greeted 'El Chapo's' mother.