Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum fired back at the United States on May 31, accusing it of meddling in Mexican affairs and questioning whether the U.S. Justice Department’s drug charges against 10 current and former Mexican officials—along with extradition requests—are really about something else.
Speaking at a political rally in Mexico City, Sheinbaum made it clear: “Mexico does not accept interference. We are a free and independent sovereign nation.”
It all started on April 29, when the U.S. Justice Department indicted 10 Mexican officials—including the governor of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya—for allegedly working with the Sinaloa drug cartel to help funnel drugs into the U.S., plus weapons offenses and kidnapping. Rocha Moya announced on May 1 that he’d stepped aside temporarily to cooperate with Mexico’s federal prosecutor’s investigation.
On February 23 in Mexico City, President Sheinbaum faced reporters at a press conference. (Photo by Francisco Canedo)
At the rally, Sheinbaum said the U.S. Justice Department’s agency had asked Mexico to arrest and extradite 10 Mexican citizens—including a governor, a mayor, and a senator. She’s skeptical about the so-called “help” behind the move. “It’s not about helping Mexico fight crime. It’s about the U.S. far-right using Mexico as a talking point for the 2026 midterm elections, or maybe trying to mess with Mexico’s own midterm elections in 2027,” she suggested. Sheinbaum argued that if another country decides whether a Mexican citizen is guilty, or puts pressure on Mexican institutions, “that’s not cooperation—that’s interference.”
According to reports from Latin American media, just before the U.S. Justice Department filed those arrest and extradition requests for the 10 Mexican officials, two CIA agents died in a car crash during a drug bust in northern Mexico. The Mexican government said those agents weren’t authorized to operate there, and Sheinbaum publicly demanded the U.S. explain what happened.
Lately, “foreign interference in elections” has been a hot topic in Mexican politics. On May 28, Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies passed a constitutional amendment allowing election results to be declared invalid if they’re tainted by foreign meddling.
