MEXICO CITY, May 18 (Reuters) – Mexico has frozen the bank accounts of former officials accused by the United States of ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday, describing the move as a preventive measure rather than a domestic investigation.
Local media reported last week that Mexican financial authorities had blocked the accounts of Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha and nine other current and former officials who face U.S. charges that they aided drug traffickers.
Asked in her morning press conference why Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit, or UIF, had frozen the accounts, Sheinbaum said the agency would soon issue a statement explaining the action.
“Given that there is an arrest warrant in the United States against 10 people, the banks here – because they have relationships with banks there – take a series of measures,” Sheinbaum said. “Automatically, preventively, the UIF does it.”
Sheinbaum did not name Rocha, a member of ruling party Moreno who is on leave from his post, or any other official in her remarks. Rocha has said he is innocent.
U.S. prosecutors charged Rocha and the others in an indictment unsealed on April 29, alleging they helped the Sinaloa Cartel traffic drugs into the United States in exchange for political support and bribes.
Sheinbaum also said that a number of high-ranking U.S. cabinet officials would visit Mexico in the coming days, including drug czar Sara Carter and Homeland Security chief Markwayne Mullin.
Sheinbaum has previously said that Mexico would not protect anyone guilty of wrongdoing, but said there was not yet clear evidence and suggested the U.S. case had political motives.
The case has raised pressure on Sheinbaum as the United States broadens its anti-cartel campaign to target politicians and public officials as well as criminal groups.
Two former high-ranking Sinaloa officials charged in the same case entered U.S. custody last week. Former public security secretary Gerardo Merida Sanchez was arrested in Arizona and appeared in Manhattan federal court, while former Sinaloa finance minister Enrique Diaz surrendered to U.S. authorities.
(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Daina Beth Solomon)
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