Sheinbaum: 'We Are Not a Protectorate' — FGR Rules US Extradition Docs Lack Sufficient Evidence; Sheinbaum-Rocha-AMLO Weekend Meeting Reported

On May 10, 2026 — Day 656 of the Sinaloa cartel civil war — President Claudia Sheinbaum issued her sharpest sovereignty statement yet in response to escalating US pressure over the extradition of indicted Sinaloa officials: 'We are not a protectorate of the United States. We are not a colony.' The statement came as Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) formally confirmed that the US extradition documentation for Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and nine co-defendants 'did not contain sufficient probative elements that provide conclusive evidence' to establish the defendants' responsibility under Mexican legal standards. Special prosecutor Ulises Lara confirmed the FGR would launch its own investigation into whether domestic charges could be brought — a procedural pathway that allows Mexico to claim independent action rather than US-directed enforcement. All ten indicted officials are members of Sheinbaum's MORENA coalition, creating acute political pressure on the president who must simultaneously satisfy her sovereignty-commitments base while managing a potential US-Mexico trade rupture. Reports emerging on May 10 indicated that Sheinbaum and Rocha Moya held a meeting with former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) over the weekend to coordinate a political response to the indictment. The meeting — if confirmed — would represent the inner MORENA circle closing ranks ahead of anticipated further US escalation. Adding economic leverage, the mandatory USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) review is scheduled for June 2026 — giving the Trump administration a direct trade mechanism to press Mexico on cartel cooperation. Senator Enrique Inzunza Cázares, another co-defendant, stated publicly that he would continue serving in the Senate while mounting his legal defense. The diplomatic standoff has now entered its 10th day since the Rocha Moya indictment, with no sign of either side yielding.