Four young men who disappeared from San José del Cabo on March 21 have been found alive after a disturbing video surfaced showing two of them confessing under apparent coercion to trafficking marijuana in the Los Cabos area. The State Commission for the Search of Missing Persons marked all four men as “located” on March 25 and deactivated the search protocol.
Coerced Video Names Local Drug Operation
In a one-minute recording that circulated on social media, Juan Luis Chico Torres, 27, and Omar Antonio García Rosas, 22, appeared holding a handwritten sign reading “Pay attention to your children.” Both men stated they had received shipments of one to four kilos of “exotic marijuana” via DHL packages concealed inside dog food bags. They said they resold the drugs locally in Los Cabos.
One of the two also admitted to prior involvement smuggling drugs into a state prison. The men thanked whoever “gave us another chance at life” in the video, language consistent with forced confession recordings produced by organized crime groups operating in Baja California Sur.
The other two missing men, Edwin David Ceseña Borquez and Gabriel Everardo Rosas Rivera, did not appear in the video. All four were confirmed alive by authorities, but neither the FGE (Baja California Sur’s state attorney general’s office) nor the search commission has publicly explained the circumstances of their release.
Airport Blockades Pressured Authorities
Before the men were located, their families staged blockades at the San José del Cabo International Airport, a tactic that has become increasingly common in Baja California Sur when relatives feel official search efforts move too slowly. The airport, which handles roughly 6 million passengers per year and serves as the main gateway for tourists visiting the Los Cabos corridor, experienced disruptions as demonstrators demanded action.
The forced confession format of the video follows a well-documented pattern in Mexican cartel activity. Armed groups seize individuals accused of operating on their territory without authorization, record them admitting to drug activity, and release or kill them as a warning to competitors. The sign’s message, directed at parents, echoes the moralizing tone common in such recordings.
Los Cabos has experienced periodic surges in cartel-related violence since the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2014 triggered turf wars across Baja California Sur. Rival factions, including elements of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, have competed for control of drug distribution routes that run through the resort corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo.
Authorities have not announced any arrests in connection with the kidnappings or the video. The state search commission’s brief confirmation on March 25 offered no details about where the four men were found or their physical condition, as reported by The Cabo Post.