Laura Zuniga, Mexican Beauty Queen, Dating Powerful Drug Trafficker

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — A reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled guns and ammunition, police say.

Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga stared at the ground, with her flowing dark hair concealing her face, as she stood squeezed between seven alleged gunmen lined up before journalists. Soldiers wearing ski masks guarded the 23-year-old model and the suspects.

Zuniga was arrested shortly before midnight on Monday at a military checkpoint in Zapopan, just outside the colonial city of Guadalajara, said Jalisco state police director, Francisco Alejandro Solorio.

Zuniga was riding in one of two trucks, where soldiers found a large stash of weapons, including two AR-15 assault rifles, .38 specials, 9mm handguns, nine magazines, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency, Solorio said Tuesday.

State police identified one of the men caught with her as the brother of an alleged drug trafficker from Ciudad Juarez, a city on the U.S. border, and said the man appeared to have been her boyfriend.

Zuniga told police that she was planning on traveling to Bolivia and Colombia with the men to go shopping, Solorio said.

When the former preschool teacher won Miss Sinaloa in July she gave an impassioned speech about how society should value women more, especially mothers. In October, she won the Hispanoamerican Queen beauty contest in October against competitors from across Latin America.

She placed third in the Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant in Monterrey in September. That pageant sends its winner to the Miss Universe contest. For placing third, she was expected to represent Mexico in the 2009 Miss International contest.

Zuniga is from the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, the home of the powerful cartel of the same name. It was not immediately known whether Zuniga and the men were being investigated for drug ties.

Lupita Jones, the national director of Nuestra Belleza Mexico, released a statement distancing the organization from Zuniga. Jones also said Nuestra Belleza knew nothing about "any illicit activity in which she could be involved."

The organization also says it will await the results of the investigation before making any decision about whether to strip Zuniga of her crown.

"Since 1994, Nuestra Belleza has been a serious, honest and transparent organization dedicated exclusively to preparing Mexican women to successfully represent our country en various contests and whose object is to show the beauty, value and intelligence of each one of them," Jones said.

Tatiana Limpias of Gloria promotions, which organizes the Hispanoamerican contest in Bolivia, told The Associated Press that their lawyers were also looking into the matter before making a decision about her crown.

About 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States passes through Mexico, earning its powerful and vicious cartels billions of dollars a year and allowing them to corrupt the segments of society ranging from the police and army to musical groups.

Comments

[watchingthings]

What a croud she hangs out with. I wonder if she's met a certain governor from Illinois yet?

[zakwouldhave]

Legalize it...at least pot. Who would be hurt the most? Cartels, right?
Until then, I am doing my small part by only consuming liquor, caffeine and red bull......­and it kind of sucks so get on that legalize thing and tax it!

[SoCalAmerican]

The war on drugs and control applied in the war on drugs is all dollar and sense. Who ever has the most money is winning. Dig deep and research what our federal budget is for the war on drugs compared to the estimates the cartels have to spend: reality hurts but acceptance and acknowledgment of this deficiency is the first step.

...its always been this way since the 80s.

[Pat15]

As someone wrote that we consume the product the cartels sell...we need to control the demand too...Alon­g with that we need to curtail guns in US ..the mexican drug cartels have the $ & they buy the assuault rifles & other stuff here ..& smuggle it to mexico ...We can blame mexico but we dont look at ourselves as we are part of the problem too...Do we need assualt rifles in US for hunting?

[Sutungpo]

This woman did what 90% of the pretty girls anywhere do, she went with the money. Hell, Darwinian selection guarantees that the guys with money are going to get the best looking girls, at least as long as they live or stay out of jail.

Mexico is totally out of control right now. Every weekend there are bodies found in border towns, every week a new group gets kidnapped for money. The Mexican government has made a policy of exporting their poverty to America, and done little to nothing to actually improve conditions for the poor. Morality is something that the poor don't want and can't afford. And, of course, knowing all this, Clinton (supposedly one of ours, remember?) signed the free trade agreement.

One way or another, Mexico is going to have to do something about it's crime problem. It''s already crossing into American border towns. The LAST thing that needed to be done was to throw open the borders for more immigration and reward a corrupt regime with NAFTA. The US can't clean up for them. Mexico is going to have to be made address this issue.

One good way would be to end prohibition. Americans aren't stupid, if they can get an ounce for 5 bucks from the goober down the street they're not going to send billions to thugs in Mexico.

[walk0nwalls]

There needs to be a point at which we recognize that the US needs to have a stake in enforcing politically capable governments in immediate vicinity of our borders. A free border would not be a problem if the Mexican government were anywhere near on their game. Our fate is definitively intertwined with theirs, and as of right now, they're within spitting distance of the same level of security as Kabul.

[thinkreasondecide]

Obviously, there would be no supply if there was no demand. US consumption and Mexican demand are inextricably linked just as the people of Mexico and the US have been since the time of Columbus. We buy drugs, give drug lords and their families the money that they then use for shopping sprees in the US. However, fortunately or unfortunately, Mexico and the US are both responsible. We are neighbors and we share “problems” as well as a border. A border too leaky for your liking, but nonetheless, a border.

These slayings are a side-effect of the Mexican government's recent attempts to deal with drug trafficking. Calderon has launched a nationwide raid against these drug cartels. The cartels are striking back, which is why you have been reading about brutal assassinations. The drug trade was built over generations, so it will not be dismantled according to your timeline. Moreover, to equate drug trafficking with immigration is not only naive, it is symptomatic of the ignorance many US citizens use to judge their neighbor. We have to solve these issues because they are pressing. Drug trafficking and violence are not just "Mexican" problems, they are transnational. We must address our drug use, even consider legalizing substances so that their trade does not lead to clandestine, violent activities. They are our problems. I would just love to hear what you people had to say if we shared a border with Pakistan or India, for instance. It could be much worse.

[livesimply]

"Pretty girls?" Sure, lots of them go for money alone, but only the ones that have puny brain power. Lots of beautiful women make their own money and/or go for men with talent and integrity.

[pghguy72]

As a conservative, I cannot tolerate this middle of the ground/lai­ssez-faire attitude toward immigration and our borders any longer. We need stiff border security (and we need to make investment in these efforts a priority, above our investment in "international security" in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere) OR we need to create an American union of sorts with a unified police force. Where I come from, you are either "in" or you are "out". This non-committal mish mash of policies is total BS and must come to an end, or, I fear, it will bring us to an end.

[Raster]

The problem here is spelled M-O-N-E-Y = P-O-W-E-R projecting an irresistible attraction. Legalize 'illegal' drugs, make them available for purchase in Federally chartered and administered stores similar to liquor stores and 80-90% of the illegal profit potential disappears along with a concomitant amount of the associated crime. But that will never happen.

[bobo5]

Just think if these weapons got into the hands of Miss Teen South Carolina.

[Destin]

I don't see what the big deal was about how Miss Teen S.C. worded the now famous "US Americans". She was right. Considering from Canada to Argentina, we're all Americans. So what are the US version of Americans called? The term "Americas" encompassed North and South America. The United States doesn't own the term "American".

[Hamatreya]

Save the B!MBos, Save the B!Mbos

[concernvoter]

Her career is over.

[Rangerguy2000]

yeah otherwise she would have been running for some dumb furk governorship for some state in Mexico right?

[richmx2]

Highly unlikely she'd run for office anywhere in Mexico. Colombia has a tradition of ex-beauty queens running for office (but, then, Colombia is a highly statified society and a former "Miss Colombia" is likely to come from the small upper class that has run the country for centuries), and in the United States, pop singers and comedians have even been elected to congress, pro wrestlers have become governors and a film actor was elected President. But in Mexico... no.

PAN tried to put up a few TV starts for municipal offices in Mexico City (in a PAN dominated district) but the voters rejected them. Irma Serrano, who'd been a pageant contestant at some point in her colorful life, was a Senator with a proportional representation seat from one minor party, but Seranno's political acumen came honesty... as the former mistress of a former president.

[Babysnake]

Don't want a criminal underworld and all that means?

Then legalize it.

[MurrayAbraham]

What? guns?

[FZliveson]

The store did not have any eggnog left last evening, so I'm drinkin my rum straight, awaiting my Christmas-day guests. I'm a victim of greedy capitalists who refused to overstock their shelves in
anticipation of poor planners, like me, who would go to Safeway at 9pm Christmas Eve, expecting
a half gallon of Eggnog to be there with my name on it! Oh whoa and alas! Circumstances

[Earl]

Yeah, but that widescreen TV is still on the shelf and is going to be half off next week.

[FZliveson]

Quote: "About 90 percent of the cocaine entering the United States passes through Mexico" Unquote

About 100% of the illicit drugs used in the United States get past drug enforcement efforts for some reason. Makes me concerned that illegal immigrants and illegal imports of other dangerous substances, far more worrisome than mind-melting potions, must be just as "easy" to get into this nation.

OR, are the "security people," who watch out for the really "dirty/nasty" stuff that we hear about from
Roaming the Land Insecurity (the people who give/gave us "The scare-level color for today is "Yellow" so mill about smartly with only a "Yellow-le­vel-fear") doing the excellent job we hear about?

Cui Bono? Who benefits? Follow the money to the truth

[Earl]

Yeah, billions of tax dollars wasted on missile defense when all they gotta do is drive the payload across the border in a '63 Dodge Dart.

[Chicago48]

100% of the guns entering Mexico come from the U.S., tit for tat?

[FZliveson]

Chicago48, What's your point? There are firearms made in Israel, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, Brazil and other Latin American Countries. If you look closely at Mexico drug-raid photographs, you will see AK-family weapons, made in China, Russia and other non-USA locations. On what facts were your "tit for tat" comments based? How you come to YOUR stated conclusion that;
"100% of the guns entering Mexico come from the U.S."

Places like Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba might have some interest in seeing the druggies in Mexico be well armed. Are you saying they fly to Laredo, buy guns and sneak them into Mexico?
Lay it out so we can all understand, okay?

[johnnygoodwud]

along with the cache of arms, they found she had two bazookas

[JessWonderin]

LOL!

[walk0nwalls]

well done sir.

[concernvoter]

A sad case.

[strick9]

How sad, just another victim of the United States drug policy, but no one would even have noticed if she wasn't a beauty queen. Weapons and money there had to be drugs involved, perhaps, but they didn't report finding any. Our government makes certain drugs illegal, the ones the pharmacy companies can't control, start a war with all that won't conform both sides engaging in extortion and terrorism. If rights are violated in the process then there was drugs or terrorisms involved. I believe the article said her boyfriend was the drug trafficker’s brother.

[Perry Clease]

She is not a victim of our drug policy. She, and the drug dealers, made a decision on their own to do what they do. Sure there is a lot of money to be made in drug trafficking, but that does not mean people have to engage in it.

[FreeRange]

She is absolutely a victim of our drug policy! When drugs, especially pot, started coming across our borders, there were no guns and gangs involved. It wasn't until we escalated our policing efforts, after we armed ourselves, strong armed foreign countries to start their own war on drugs, increased penalties and the risk, and thus the costs of drugs, that the whole culture of drug smuggling changed.

[FZliveson]

We're all victims of birth. We're all victims of inaction. We're all victims of whatever context we choose to adopt for the world around us. Victim, schmictim. The woman might just be having the time of her life (right or wrong by other people's standards) Judging others from the outside is just validating our own insecurities. I hope Laura Zuniga is happy, safe and doing good things for other people of her choice. What else can any person do? We all have a life-long obstacle course to run. The quality of life comes in the quality of the run.

[rektruax]

He couldn't have been that powerful..­. We wouldn't be hearing about this, or dare say she wouldn't have even been arrested in the first place if he were.