Overview
- State lawmakers approved the leave on Saturday and named Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde interim governor after Rubén Rocha Moya stepped aside.
- The five-count U.S. case unsealed Wednesday accuses Rocha and nine others of aiding the Sinaloa Cartel’s Chapitos faction and of benefiting from ballot theft and threats during the 2021 race.
- Mexico’s attorney general requested U.S. extradition files, said current evidence does not justify provisional detention, and will review the case before any move.
- Other officials named in the indictment, including Culiacán’s mayor Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, also took leave, a step that lets elected officials cooperate while keeping their legal immunity.
- What happens next hinges on evidence-sharing and whether Mexican bodies lift immunity for prosecution, a process testing U.S.–Mexico cooperation as Washington presses for tougher action on cartels.