NEW YORK, May 12, 2026: Late last month the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York unveiled a sealed indictment charging the governor of Sinaloa, a Mexican senator and several other officials in Sinaloa of colluding with members of the Sinaloa drug cartel. The release of the indictment has further deteriorated relations between the U.S. and Mexican governments.
The latest drug trafficking investigation began in April 2023 when two of Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera’s sons – Los Chapitos – went on trial in New York. El Chapo is serving a life sentence, plus 30 years, at the maximum-security ADS Florence prison in Colorado. El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, a U.S. citizen, was sentenced to a little less than three years in federal prison for her part in her husband’s drug trafficking operation and for helping him escape from jail in 2015. She was released from prison in 2023.
Two of El Chapo’s, Iván Archivaldo “El Chapito” Guzmán Salazar and Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar took over the Sinaloa cartel after their father was arrested, along with two half-brothers, Ovidio “El Ratón” Guzmán López and Joaquín Guzmán López. They are commonly known as Los Chapitos. The latter two are now in the hands of U.S. authorities. Iván and Jesús remain at large.
It is believed that the latest indictment is part of a plea agreement made by El Chapo’s sons Ovidio and Joaquín for a lighter sentence. Ovidio pleaded guilty last year and Joaquín was arrested after he kidnapped another drug dealer, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, and surrendered to U.S. authorities after their plane landed in Santa Teresa. The younger Joaquín is currently on trial facing drug charges. El Mayo pleaded guilty last year.
The Indictment Names El Paso
The federal indictment accuses Sinaloa’s governor, Rubén Rocha Moya, and several other Sinaloa officials of taking bribes from Los Chapitos to shield them from arrest and to facilitate their trafficking to the U.S. “massive amounts of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.”
The indictment names two U.S. cities where the Sinaloa cartel kept stash houses to store drugs before sending them on to other U.S. cities.
The two cities are El Paso and Phoenix.
Other Sinaloa cartel stash houses are in Southern California according to the indictment.
The indictment’s detailed narrative and America’s criminal system of relying on cooperating witnesses, many of whom are long-time criminals, to build cases leads to suggestions that the latest criminal case against Mexican drug traffickers is based on cooperation from the incarcerated El Chapo’s sons.
Around 20 family members of El Chapo are in U.S. custody after 17 family members surrendered to U.S. authorities in July 2025. The family members surrendered after El Chapo’s son, Ovidio, made a deal with federal prosecutors to provide the prosecutors with information in return for immunity for family members not directly involved in drug trafficking. Ovidio’s nickname, “El Ratón,” means “the Rat” in English, a colloquial term for a criminal that provides information to others.
U.S. officials have requested the extradition of Moya, who is scheduled to resign his governorship at the end of the month saying that he wants to address the allegations against him. Mexican officials are evaluating the extradition request but want Washington to provide further evidence of the alleged crimes before acting on it. Moya has said he is innocent of the charges.
An apparent fallout from the latest indictment is the announcement by Washington last week that it launched a review of México’s 53 consulates. The review could lead to the closure of several consulates.
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Cover photograph: photographic illustration consisting of the City of El Paso in the background superimposed with a mugshot of Joaquín Archivaldo “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, May 12, 2026, Martín Paredes/El Paso Herald Post.
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