Sinaloa Governor Makes Stunning Admission After Witnesses Say He Met With 'El Mayo' While Fundraising

SEATTLE - During a public event in Mexico City, Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya made a stunning confession to reporters present at the National Water Rights Agreement, in which he revealed that government officials have met and continue to meet with criminal organizations amid the wave of violence that has afflicted the entity since September.

In a vague statement, Rocha Moya told reporters "as long as we do not wake up with news about how authorities found something...there were reports of armed civilians. While those things stop occurring, that is why we do not want to say things have ended. We have made a lot of progress, 89% of all schools are back open."

As reported by Proceso, Rocha Moya said that the objective of local authorities is to put an end to clashes between "Los Chapitos" and "Los Mayos" and to eliminate the sense of fear that has inundated residents of Culiacán. The Sinaloa governor said that although authorities continue to work to provide safety, there are things that cannot be prevented in what he labelled as "isolated cases."

"There have been direct meetings between criminal groups and government officials. The frequency has been reduced, but they still exist." — Rubén Rocha Moya

The governor's comments came out just a few hours after testimonies of alleged witnesses linked Rocha Moya to personally meeting with Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada while looking to launch his race for Sinaloa governor in 2021.

A meeting during the campaign

According to witnesses that served during Rocha Moya's administration, the now governor met with "El Mayo" in a ranch in the outskirts of Culiacán in December of 2020.

The testimonies say that Rocha Moya was looking to get Zambada's approval to run for governor, as "El Mayo" was the most influential figure in the region. Rocha Moya was also looking to get financial support from Zambada to launch his campaign, which he ended up winning against then-Senator Mario Zamora Gastelum the following year.

During the campaign, Gastelum denounced that criminal groups influenced Sinaloa's elections so Rocha Moya could win, arguing that cartel members were mobilized across the state during election day to secure Rocha Moya's victory. Despite the accusations, no formal complaint was filed to Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE).

The alleged testimonies linking government officials in Sinaloa to directly meeting with criminal groups corroborates the story shared by "El Mayo" Zambada in a letter he submitted during his trial in U.S. courts in which he linked his "kidnapping" with local politicians.

According to Zambada's letter, Héctor Melesio Cuén Ojeda was murdered at the same ranch where "El Mayo" himself was allegedly kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López, one of El Chapo's sons.

Allegedly, Zambada and Cuén had been asked by Rocha Moya to meet with him to resolve "political differences" between Rocha Moya and Cuén, who served as the president of Sinaloa's Autonomous University (UAS). When he was murdered, Cuén served as federal deputy for the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance although he was the leader of the Sinaloense Party (PAS).

"I am aware that the official version being told by Sinaloa state authorities is that Héctor Cuen was shot in the evening of July 25th at a gas station by two men on a motorcycle who wanted to rob his pick-up truck. That is not what happened. He was killed at the same time, and in the same place, where I was kidnapped. Héctor Cuen was a longtime friend of mine, and I deeply regret his death as well as the disappearance of José Rosario Heras López and Rodolfo Chaidez who no one has seen or heard from since." — Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada in a letter

During Sinaloa's elections in 2021, at least nine cases of kidnappings were reported that targeted election poll workers.

According to a report from Animal Político, authorities were aware of the possible interference that criminal groups could present during the elections, as a report by the then Minister of Public Safety Rosa Icela Rodríguez mentioned that Sinaloa, as well as other six other states in Mexico, had a "bigger risk" of reporting cases of interference by the hands of criminal groups.