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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum congratulated the ruling-party governor on Sunday for desisting from returning to power after an ephemeral attempt that sparked criticism even among his own allies, following accusations by the United States of ties to drug trafficking.
Rubén Rocha Moya took a new indefinite leave of absence on Saturday from his post as governor of Sinaloa, a central state for drug trafficking. This follows another leave of nearly four months that he requested when U.S. authorities sought his arrest and extradition for alleged ties to the powerful cartel founded by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
Rocha denies any link to organized crime and had announced his return to the governor's mansion just last Friday.
It was a political cataclysm. Sheinbaum, the ruling Morena party, to which both belong, and other leaders criticized the decision.
He backed down on Saturday.
"It is best for Sinaloa," Sheinbaum told reporters at an official event. "I have not spoken with him since the first time he requested a leave of absence."
"He made the personal decision to return, and it was also a personal decision to withdraw," added the president, who had strongly criticized Rocha's actions the day before.
Early Saturday, the president wrote on X that "no personal interest can ever be above the interests of the people" and of Mexico.
"Power without principles becomes arrogance; power without limits, abuse," she added at the time without naming names.
It is an unusual distancing within this leftist movement led by former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is very close to the 77-year-old veteran governor.
Rocha Moya and nine other ruling-party members have been pointed to for ties to the Sinaloa Cartel by the United States, which is pursuing sitting politicians for the first time.
Sheinbaum is under pressure from the government of Donald Trump, which has claimed that drug trafficking governs Mexico.
[Publicidad]