Mexico: Interim governor of the state of Sinaloa is appointed after accusations against the governor

The Congress of the Mexican state of Sinaloa (northwest) appointed this Saturday Yeraldine Bonilla Valverde as interim governor, minutes after unanimously approving the temporary license requested by the president Rubén Rocha Moyain the midst of an investigation against him for alleged links to drug trafficking.

The appointment was made during an extraordinary session of the local Congress, in which the plenary session previously endorsed the removal of Rocha Moya from office for a period of more than 30 days.

LOOK HERE: The US accuses the governor of Sinaloa Rubén Rocha Moya and other Mexican authorities of drug trafficking

With this appointment, Bonilla Valverde becomes the first woman to assume the governorship of Sinaloa.

The decision occurs in a context of political tension, after the governor requested leave on Friday night following accusations made by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Southern District of New Yorkwho point him out, along with other officials, to alleged links with the Sinaloa Cartel.

Rocha Moya has rejected the accusations and stated that his removal from office seeks to facilitate the investigations of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).

Bonilla Valverde has a degree in Social Work from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa and has experience in the social and educational field, where she participated in child care activities and worked as an educational assistant for indigenous children in the agricultural sector.

In her political career, she was a local deputy for the party Morena during the LXIII Legislature of Sinaloa Congress (2018-2021).

Subsequently, she served as Undersecretary of Studies, Projects and Development of the State Government between November 2021 and March 2024, during the Rocha Moya Administration.

Also, he temporarily held the position of the state Secretary of Public Security between August and September 2025.

In 2024 she returned to the local Congress as a representative of the LXV Legislature, this time nominated by the Ecological Green Party from Mexico.

Like Rocha Moya, the mayor of Culiacán, Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil -another of the officials indicated by the Department of Justice of the USA -, requested a provisional license, so Miriam Ramos Villarreal He entered as a substitute for the position.

MORE INFORMATION: Governor of Sinaloa says that “it lacks veracity” that the United States links him to drug trafficking

Among the accused is also the former Secretary of Public Security of Sinaloa Gerardo Merida Sanchez and the former commander of the Culiacán municipal police Juan Valenzuela Millán.

Likewise, there are other state officials and security commanders identified as Enrique Inzunza Cázarez, Enrique Diaz Vega, Damaso Castro Saavedra, Marco Antonio Almanza Aviles, Alberto Jorge Contreras Núñez y José Antonio Dionisio Hipólito.

Sinaloa is also going through a context of violence that has lasted for more than a year and a half, which adds pressure to the process of appointing the interim government.

The federal prosecutor’s office in New York charged this Wednesday, April 29, the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, with drug trafficking, the highest-ranking Mexican politician in office accused of links to organized crime. (AFP)

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