Mexican senator accuses Sheinbaum of shielding ‘narco-politicians’ after US cartel indictment

Mexican Sen. Lilly Téllez accused President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government of protecting what she called "narco-politicians" after New York prosecutors unsealed indictments accusing 10 current and former Mexican officials of working with the Sinaloa Cartel to protect fentanyl trafficking operations.

Téllez claimed Sunday on "Fox & Friends Weekend" that Sheinbaum is refusing to hand over indicted officials to the U.S. because she fears it could lead to the discovery of more alleged corruption.

"She's afraid that if she extradites… to the United States these narco-politicians, there will be — the Pandora's box will be open, and many other narco-politicians will fall," she said. "I mean, this government is not acting, is not responding to the rule of law, but to the rule of the mafia."

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The senator called Mexico a "mafiocracy," or a mafia state, and said the recently unsealed indictment out of the Southern District of New York was the "most important" accusation against a sitting Mexican government by the United States.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Terrance C. Cole, announced on April 29 the unsealing of an indictment charging Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya and nine others with drug trafficking and related weapons offenses.

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The current and former high-ranking government and law enforcement officials are alleged to have partnered with the Sinaloa Cartel to distribute massive quantities of narcotics to the United States. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.

Téllez insisted Sheinbaum was "always lying to Mexican people," most recently by stoking fears of a U.S. invasion.

She accused the Mexican government of "promoting a hate campaign against America" and appealed to Americans as neighbors and economic partners to pay attention to what is occurring south of the border.

"The American people should know what is really happening. In Mexico, this is not the country you knew. This is a new regime," she said. "A regime in which authoritarian politicians, narco-politicians associated with cartels, financed by them, are ruling now."