Raúl Rocha, Rubén Rocha Moya: from the ballot boxes of Sinaloa to the yachts of Monaco, the new map of drug trafficking

For Washington, the war against Mexican cartels is no longer limited to armed traffickers. It now targets politicians, financiers, and networks of influence suspected of having allowed drug trafficking to penetrate the very structures of Mexican power. The net is tightening particularly around Raúl Rocha, co-owner of Miss Universe, following the Interpol Red Notice issued against his associates in the Sinaloa cartel and Mexican Governor Rubén Rocha Moya.

The United States toughens its stance on Mexican drug trafficking

Since the return of Donald Trump At the White House, the American doctrine regarding Mexican drug trafficking has hardened. On January 20, 2025, a presidential decree initiated the process of designating several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. A month later, this designation was formalized for several groups, including the Sinaloa cartel. This change expands the legal, financial, and diplomatic tools available to American authorities against criminal organizations, as well as against their alleged supporters.

These two cases demonstrate the broadening focus on Mexican drug trafficking. Traffickers and cartel leaders are no longer the only ones targeted by the justice system. Political figures suspected of facilitating their establishment, economic intermediaries suspected of supporting their activities, and financial networks that may have served to protect or expand their operations are also being investigated.

Rubén Rocha Moya, a governor targeted by US justice and wanted by Interpol

On April 29, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced the indictment of Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of the state of Sinaloa, along with nine current or former state officials. The U.S. indictment alleges that these officials helped the Sinaloa cartel smuggle drugs into the United States and also mentions weapons-related offenses. U.S. authorities describe this case as one of the most sensitive ever brought against Mexican public officials suspected of collusion with a criminal organization. Rubén Rocha Moya is now on Interpol's red notice.

The issue goes beyond the individual case of the governor. The American justice system is targeting officials embedded within the regional state apparatus. The case thus highlights the idea of ​​alleged institutional protection of the Sinaloa cartel from within local political and security structures. It is precisely this shift in focus that characterizes the current hardening of the approach: tracing criminal networks back to their suspected political backers.

For the Mexican presidency, this affair is politically explosive. Claudia Sheinbaum maintains a consistent line: cooperation with Washington on security issues, but a refusal of any political subordination or foreign intervention on Mexican territory. She has repeatedly reaffirmed that the relationship with the United States must be based on a logic of “collaboration, coordination without subordination” and that sovereignty "Not negotiable"She also stated publicly that she would not accept the presence of the American army in Mexico.

The net is closing in on Raúl Rocha, amid increased pressure against the Sinaloa cartel's proxies.

The case of Raúl Rocha Cantú belongs to a different world altogether, but it sheds light on another dimension of this same hardening of attitudes. A Mexican businessman and co-owner of Miss Universe, he is under investigation in Mexico for organized crime and his ties to cartels. He is the target of proceedings involving, among other things, suspected drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and fuel theft. Mexican authorities have also frozen his bank accounts, and several arrest warrants have been issued in connection with this case.

The Spanish daily describes an entrepreneur involved in the import-export of hydrocarbons, wanted by Mexican authorities in a case of fuel and arms trafficking between Guatemala and Mexico, and also highlights his former position as honorary consul of Mexico in Guatemala. The newspaper further notes that he left Mexico in 2011 after the Casino Royale tragedy, an establishment he owned, before subsequently rebuilding his international image in business and beauty pageants.

The contrast between this glamorous image and the looming shadow of organized crime is striking. Raúl Rocha attempts to buy himself respectability through a world of prestige, celebrity, and jet-set lifestyle, the better to conceal the serious suspicions of arms trafficking, fuel smuggling, and organized crime. It is this contrast that gives the scandal a political and symbolic scope far broader than a simple criminal case. It suggests that the networks under investigation no longer operate solely on the fringes of society, but also within the economic, social, and international spheres where capital, influence, and respectability circulate.

The net is tightening all the more as this affair is developing at a time when pressure is also increasing on Sinaloa's political and security entourage. Mexican authorities have confirmed the existence of Interpol red notices targeting Rubén Rocha Moya and several other officials flagged by the United States for alleged links with the Sinaloa cartel, close to Raúl Rocha. The concurrence of these cases reinforces the image of a hardening that no longer targets only traffickers, but also public officials, intermediaries and business circles gravitating around the cartel's areas of influence.

From Sinaloa to globalized circuits

On May 20, 2026, the Treasury Department sanctioned more than a dozen individuals and entities connected to two separate networks linked to the Sinaloa cartel and its fentanyl trafficking activities. The stated objective is no longer simply to target traffickers, but also the structures that provide services, cover, logistics, and financial support. This confirms that the U.S. strategy now targets the entire cartel ecosystem, including the economic mechanisms that ensure their survival and investment capacity.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum faces increasing pressure

For Claudia Sheinbaum, the situation is becoming untenable. On the one hand, the Mexican government must avoid appearing as a haven for public officials or economic actors suspected of ties to organized crime. On the other, it intends to prevent the United States from unilaterally imposing its legal and political framework on Mexican territory. This tension now shapes the bilateral security relationship. The president insists on cooperation, but within the limits of Mexican sovereignty. Washington, for its part, is increasingly extending its reach to public officials, facilitators, and suspected financing networks.

The change is radical. The United States is no longer focusing solely on armed leaders, clandestine laboratories, or drug trafficking routes. It is moving upstream to the political, administrative, economic, and financial levels. From this perspective, the cases of Rubén Rocha Moya and Raúl Rocha Cantú appear as two expressions of the same pressure movement, in which drug trafficking is no longer presented as a phenomenon separate from power, money, and networks of influence, but as a system capable of becoming permanently embedded within them.