Laura Zuniga, Mexican Beauty Queen, Jailed, Stripped Of Title

MEXICO CITY — A Mexican beauty queen detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations has been stripped of her crown in the Hispanoamerican Queen pageant, contest organizers said Saturday.

Laura Zuniga, 23, was stripped of first-place honors for "failure to comply with the regulations of the title she represents," Bolivia-based pageant organizing company Gloria Promociones said in a statement. She beat more than 19 contestants from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States to win the title in October.

Runner-up Vivian Noronha of Brazil will receive the crown.

The company statement did not specify what pageant rules were broken by Zuniga, who was detained in western Mexico on Dec. 22 along with seven men, some of them suspected drug traffickers. Authorities found a large stash of weapons, ammunition and $53,300 with them inside a vehicle.

Zuniga told police the group planned to travel to Bolivia and Colombia to go shopping.

Zuniga still holds the Miss Sinaloa title from a Mexican state beauty contest in July. And she placed third in the Miss Mexico contest, whose winner competes for the Miss Universe title. As third-runner up, she was expected to represent Mexico in the 2009 Miss International contest.

Miss Mexico pageant organizers say they are awaiting the results of the investigation before deciding what to do.

But doubts are already beginning to arise about Zuniga's string of pageant victories, after a Sinaloa state official told local media that she may not have gone through the proper auditions for the Miss Sinaloa contest.

"Everything indicates she won her crown through the intervention of her boyfriend, a drug lord," wrote columnist Carlos Puig in the Mexican newspaper Milenio.

While there is no hard evidence that the slender, striking Zuniga improperly won any of her titles, Mexican drug traffickers are know to take innocuous contests seriously.

In November, 17 people _ most suspected traffickers _ were killed in an argument over bets on a horse race in an area near the Mexico-Guatemala border.

Comments

[GeorgeP922]

If she was smart she would MOVE TO AMERICA, she would be an instant success on the trainwreck model circuit.

[rabiddog6708]

Mexican Beauty Queen stripped..­....insert joes here.

[quiviran]

Don't add jokes, take video.

[Truby]

Tell me that I am the only one who is mentally adding some loud rock n roll to complete this picture.

[Harrier]

She is done-and has no future anymore. Destined for the street

[Egalitare]

Well...the­re's always Porn - that is when the overall economy recovers enough.

[Ridgemore]

She is too hot to send to jail - they would have to keep her in solitary confinment.

[HallStyle]

You can Strip her of her title but you can't strip her of her Booty of My mean Beauty.

[eremite]

I wonder if her boyfriend is going to drop her now?

[wembakoy]

Yes we can do something. Please let make the world to be a peaceful place again.

Please share: http://okonda.com/please_save_my_people.html

[watchingthings]

If her boyfriend, who happens to be the drug kingpin, decided she is the beauty queen of Mexico, who do these pageant people think they are to strip her of her crown? He made her beauty queen.....­..he decides wheather she remains beauty queen.

[Jazzcomedian]

Maybe she was hitchhiking, and they just picked her up. If I was her lawyer, that's what I'd say.

[max]

she's still a winner to me

[Jazzcomedian]

Pretty chicks dig bad boys. Why, I don't know, but I've seen it enough to know it's a reality. Nice guys struggle in this day and age. Chicks consider them boring. Gangsta rappers are doing much better than nice guys. Somebody oughta do a study on it. A nice Mexican boy probably didn't stand a chance with her.

[Gooberweevil]

It may also have something to do with the fact you're calling women "chicks".

[Jazzcomedian]

I call guys cats, and I call women chicks. Jazz lingo. I'm sure bad boys call women much worse than that.

[SiberianRat]

I call them chicks too--and guys dudes.

[ElPerro]

Uh oh. Somebody call the Waaaaambulance. I sense a crying jag coming on.

[FZliveson]

I just see it as another case where a brain and a spirit were coupled to a geometrically pleasing human figure and the woman's opportunity to experience life with a degree of innocence was greatly compromised. Gorgeous women are hounded by males, resented by females and subject to many pressures, which can give-way to horrible psychological consequences. This is especially true in a place where the young woman can be controlled and abused by gun-slinging criminals.

[Bitsko]

Sorry, I can't join in on making fun of this woman. She was only a pawn in their game.

[unfoxworthy]

...and when she rolled a fattie for the talent portion?, ...this didn't give her away?

[rdiaz921]

LMAO.