Day 672: Rocha Moya Voluntarily Appears Before FGR in Culiacán — First Formal Domestic Questioning of SDNY-Indicted Officials; Multiple Co-Defendants Also Questioned

On Day 672 of the Sinaloa cartel civil war — May 26, 2026 — Sinaloa's on-leave Governor Rubén Rocha Moya voluntarily appeared before Mexico's Fiscalía General de la República (FGR) in Culiacán for formal questioning, marking the first direct engagement between Mexican federal prosecutors and any of the ten SDNY-indicted Sinaloa officials since the US Department of Justice unsealed the federal indictment on April 29-30, 2026. The appearance was confirmed by Proceso, La Jornada, Infobae, and El Imparcial. Multiple other co-defendants named in the SDNY indictment also appeared at the FGR on the same day. Emerging from the FGR building, Rocha Moya told reporters he 'believes in the Mexican judicial system and our institutions' and pledged to attend every future summons. The FGR characterized the sessions as declaraciones de testigos (witness testimony proceedings) — a critical procedural distinction under Mexican law that does not constitute formal criminal charges and falls short of the arrest warrant (orden de aprehensión) that the US extradition request requires. The domestic questioning track represents the Sheinbaum administration's strategy of demonstrating internal accountability while deflecting the formal extradition demand: by processing the SDNY accusations through Mexico's own legal system, the government satisfies domestic political pressure to act without conceding to what Sheinbaum has called an affront to Mexican sovereignty. The FGR appearance comes on Day 27 of the US-Mexico extradition standoff triggered by the SDNY indictment. Three of the ten indicted officials remain in US federal custody at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center — former Security Secretary Gerardo Mérida Sánchez (voluntarily surrendered in Arizona, May 11), former Finance Secretary Enrique Díaz Vega (surrendered, May 15), and Morena Senator Enrique Inzunza Cazárez (surrendered San Diego, May 17), all of whom bypassed formal extradition proceedings. Seven remain in Mexico, including Rocha Moya (on temporary leave) and Culiacán Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil (who resigned the mayoralty to strip senatorial immunity but has not surrendered). Mexico's FGR had been reported by Breitbart (May 24) to have formally opened domestic investigations into all ten SDNY-indicted officials. El Mayo Zambada's EDNY sentencing before Judge Brian Cogan (Brooklyn, 3rd postponement) remains targeted for July 20, 2026, with a defense memorandum due July 6. Ovidio Guzmán López's sentencing in Chicago (NDIL, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman) remains set for July 27. Mexico's UIF maintains its freeze on Rocha Moya's domestic bank accounts (since May 15). Running conflict toll: ~2,425+ homicides (Noroeste) / 3,000+ (WSJ) since September 9, 2024; ~5,800 disappearances (NGO Sabuesos Unidas AC, as of May 14, 2026).