Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya submitted a new indefinite leave request to the state Congress on Saturday, August 22, just one day after resuming office following a 112-day absence. The document was received the same day, and the Legislature convened an extraordinary session for this Sunday.
This is his second leave of the year: the first, on May 1, came after U.S. authorities implicated the governor in alleged ties to a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, accusations he has denied, according to Expansión Política. His return to office lasted 24 hours. Sinaloa is one of the states most closely watched by Washington on bilateral security matters, and attention now centers on how the state Congress resolves the succession, a decision that the Mexican community on both sides of the border will follow closely.
The document, grounded in Article 50, Section VIII, of Sinaloa's Constitution, was delivered to Representative Manuel de Jesús Guerrero Verdugo, president of the Permanent Deputation, and requests that the process follow Article 58 of the state Constitution. "For reasons I deem appropriate, I present myself before this Honorable Legislative Branch," the governor wrote, accompanying the document with the message: "Sinaloa, the nation, and the transformation movement stand above all else." Morena's national leadership distanced itself from the return and noted that the Attorney General's investigation remains open. President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that "no personal interest can ever stand above the interests of the people and the Nation" and said she learned of the governor's decision through social media, according to Aristegui Noticias.
The extraordinary session scheduled for this Sunday, August 23, will determine the disposition of the leave request and the next step in Sinaloa's succession, according to Aristegui Noticias. The outcome will make clear who takes charge of a state central to the security relationship between Mexico and the United States.
This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.