May 2 (Reuters) – The Mexican governor of Sinaloa state, Ruben Rocha, said late on Friday he would step down, days after the U.S. announced it charged him and other ruling-party officials for alleged involvement with the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, in what was a major escalation of U.S. pressure on Mexico.
While he said he would temporarily step aside from the job, Rocha said the allegations against him were false and ill-intended in a statement issued by the Sinaloa government.
“I can look at my people and my family in the eye because I have not betrayed them and I will never betray them, and I will demonstrate that firmly at the moment when the institutions of justice of our country require it,” he said.
Rocha belongs to the ruling MORENA party.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s move to accuse him and other MORENA officials of conspiring with leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to import massive quantities of narcotics into the U.S. in exchange for political support and bribes has put Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum in an excruciating political position.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and the Sinaloa state government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Laura Gottesdiener, Additional reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Writing by Daina Beth Solomon, Editing by Tom Hogue)
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