墨西哥选美皇后涉毒被捕 丢失桂冠

墨西哥选美皇后涉毒被捕 丢失桂冠
Beauty queen stripped of title

Laura Zuniga, the Mexican beauty queen jailed after she was picked up with an alleged drug cartel leader and heavily armed men, has been stripped of one of her titles, Bolivian organizers said over the weekend.

Zuniga lost her title as Queen of Hispanic America, said Promociones Gloria, the Bolivian group that organizes the event said.

Vivian Noronha Cia of Brazil now takes the tiara "as consequence of the events known to the public in which Miss Laura Zuniga... was involved," Promociones Gloria said in a brief statement on Saturday.

Zuniga "failed to follow the rules of the contest, which state that the winner must display correct behavior, stay away from scandals and bad habits, and be a good example to society," Tatiana Limpias de Tarabillo, who heads Promociones Gloria, told the Bolivian daily El Deber.

Zuniga, 23, was picked up late on Monday at a military checkpoint in the western Mexican state of Jalisco while traveling with seven armed men in two vehicles carrying $100,000 in cash. Authorities said they found two AR-15 rifles, three pistols, 633 cartridges and 16 mobile phones in the vehicles.

A judge on Friday ordered "the cautionary measure" of 40 days detention for Zuniga and the men "for probably committing crimes" relating to drug trafficking and transporting weapons, the office of Mexico's attorney general said.

Zuniga was picked up along with Angel Orlando Garcia Urquizar, "presumed to be one of the leaders of the Juarez Cartel," the statement read. Police earlier identified Zuniga as Garcia Urquizar's girlfriend. Zuniga is originally from Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa state, birthplace of one of Mexico's most powerful cartels.

There has been no word on whether Zuniga will keep her title as "Miss Sinaloa," which she won in July.

玻利维亚选美竞赛主办方于上周末表示，由于墨西哥选美皇后劳拉．祖尼加与一名贩毒组织头目嫌疑人及几名武装分子一同被捕，她将被剥夺“西语系美洲选美皇后”的桂冠。

选美大赛举办方、玻利维亚的Promociones Gloria组织表示，祖尼加将因此失去“西语系美洲选美皇后”称号。

该组织在于上周六发布的一份简短声明中表示，由于祖尼加涉嫌卷入这起众人皆知的丑事，巴西选手维维安．诺农哈．西娅将顺位获得选美桂冠。

该组织负责人塔蒂阿娜（Tatiana Limpias de Tarabillo）在接受玻利维亚日报《义务报》采访时说：“祖尼加没有遵守竞赛规则，包括胜出者必须行为得当，远离丑闻及不良习惯，为社会做出良好表率。”

现年23岁的祖尼加于上周一晚在墨西哥西部哈利斯科州的一处军事检查站与另外七名武装分子一同被捕。他们搭乘的两辆车内装有10万美元现金。警方在车内还发现了两支AR-15 步枪、三把手枪、633个弹药筒和和16部手机。

墨西哥司法部长办公室称，由于涉嫌贩毒及私运武器等犯罪行为，法院已于上周五裁决了“警戒措施”，祖尼加及其他被捕者被拘禁40天。

公告称，祖尼加被捕时与疑似华雷斯城贩毒集团头目之一安赫尔．奥兰多．加西亚．乌尔奇萨尔在一起。警方此前认定祖尼加是加西亚的女友。祖尼加的原籍是锡那罗亚州的库利亚坎，该地区是墨西哥最大的贩毒组织的发源地之一。

目前还没有消息证实祖尼加是否会同时失去她七月份获得的“锡那罗亚小姐”桂冠。