Baja California Sur ranks third nationally in disappearance rate

Gilberto Santisteban Flores

In the case of Sinaloa and Sonora, they reached rates of 29.9 and 26.3 disappearances per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.

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It was also emphasized that Baja California Sur recorded a 164 percent annual increase in disappearance cases between 2024 and 2025, rising from 67 reports to 206 from one year to the next.

“It is truly saddening that we are in third place. We wouldn’t want to be fifth or sixth either, but unfortunately that’s the reality—we have been on the rise,” she stated.

According to her, the problem is not only facing the disappearance of a family member; revictimization by authorities further complicates everything for indirect victims.

“They file the complaint, but the investigation is not carried out properly, and unfortunately the collective has grown with families conducting field searches,” she reiterated.

Since September 2024, they have been working near the road to San Juan de la Costa, where they have located more than 90 bodies, remains, and skeletons in over 60 clandestine graves.

She expressed that although they would like to focus on other areas of the municipality or other parts of Baja California Sur, they lack manpower, social support, and political will from authorities.

It is worth recalling that México Evalúa is a non-profit organization that, since 2009, has conducted research and analysis on public issues nationwide, including security and violence.

Lack of Will to Resolve the Problem

Iris Manríquez testified that disappearances increased in 2025, along with the normalization of violence by both authorities and citizens.

“Nearly two people disappearing daily. Many families are afraid, but they have approached the collective to report their relatives’ disappearance,” she said.

With 10 years of activism and as one of the founders of Búsqueda x La Paz, Iris mentioned the growing number of people joining field expeditions to find their relatives.

She pointed out that authorities are legally required to begin searching within the first 72 hours, including reviewing surveillance cameras and video calls, yet this often does not happen.

The longstanding complaint is that investigation files remain blank, despite substantial contributions from families seeking to locate victims.

Governor Acknowledges Increase

Governor Víctor Castro Cosío acknowledged that while there has been a decrease in femicide cases compared to 2024, disappearances have increased in Baja California Sur.

He stated there is willingness for dialogue with search collectives and that security personnel are working to address the issue.

The head of the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), Antonio López Rodríguez, denied that authorities are minimizing the problem, emphasizing that personnel are available to the public.

“A single missing person is enough for us to activate alerts and begin the search,” he added.

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He noted that along the road to San Juan de la Costa, authorities have found dozens of bodies, with more than 50 percent identification progress, and remains have been returned to families.

However, he maintains that the majority of cases correspond to victims who disappeared in 2016 and 2017, although some remains from 2022 have also been identified.

“Many of them are not from this year, because one might think they are people who disappeared this year, but the truth is they date back to 2016–2017. It is true that some from 2022 have been found, but almost the majority are from previous years,” he stated.