MEXICO CITY — The governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa — who returned to office Friday despite accusations by U.S. prosecutors that he had conspired with a cartel — reversed course Saturday after widespread criticism, particularly from members of his own party.

The governor, Rubén Rocha Moya, said in a social media post Saturday night, about a day and a half after returning to office, that he had requested an indefinite leave of absence.

In April, U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment accusing Rocha and nine other current and former Mexican officials, including a sitting senator, of taking part in a broad conspiracy to help the powerful Sinaloa cartel traffic drugs into the United States. A few days later, he stepped down — the first time.

The indictment set off a scandal in Mexico and drove a new wedge between the U.S. and Mexican governments.

Rocha has denied wrongdoing and called himself the victim of a political attack. But his return drew opposition within his own party, Morena, including from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Hours before Rocha’s announcement Saturday, Sheinbaum, a leader of Morena, wrote on social media that public servants should not place personal ambition above the well-being of the people. She criticized what she called “the naked ambition of power for power’s sake.”

“Mexico deserves public servants who understand that positions are temporary,” she wrote, “but responsibility to the nation is eternal.” Although she did not mention Rocha by name, it was widely interpreted in Mexico as a criticism of his return to office.

Rocha, 77, is the highest-ranking member of Morena, Mexico’s dominant left-wing political party, to be indicted by the United States. The case against him is the Trump administration’s most significant public step in cracking down on the corruption that it says is at the heart of Mexico’s cartel problem.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By James Wagner and Lars Dolder/Adriana Zehbrauskas
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