MEXICO FEARS 'ADOPTION' OF BEAUTY QUEENS BY DRUG CARTELS

As Miss Sinaloa Languishes In Jail After Being Arrested With A Key
Trafficker Last Week, Politicians Are Demanding An Investigation

Mexican politicians were yesterday calling for an investigation into
ties between the nation's popular beauty pageants and leading drug
cartels, after the reigning Miss Sinaloa, Laura Zuniga Huizar, was
arrested last week travelling near Guadalajara in the company of a top
trafficker and an arsenal of weaponry.

Zuniga, a 23-year-old former kindergarten teacher, was detained
with boyfriend ngel Orlando Garcia Urquiza, a key player in the
Juarez cartel, and six bodyguards, when their convoy was stopped at a
military checkpoint last Monday. Mexican authorities were astonished
to find the beauty queen with traffickers on their way to Bolivia,
armed with assault rifles, pistols and ammunition clips, 16 cell
phones and about $53,000 (UKP 36,345) in cash.

It is now feared that Zuniga's arrest is confirmation that even
"clean" elements of Mexican society are no longer beyond the reach of
the drug cartels.

In their course of business, it is believed that the drug lords may
have "adopted" performers, including beauty queens. Officials from
Sinaloa, a northern state of Mexico, say pageant organisers may have
fast-tracked Zuniga to victory in July when she was crowned Miss
Sinaloa after coming third in the Miss Mexico contest. "It is very
sad. What we are seeing is a loss of values among young people," noted
Juan Francisco Rivera, who heads the congressional public safety committee.

Under Mexican law Zuniga can be held for 40 days while police
decide whether to charge her. Pageant organisers say they may strip
her of her title if it is shown that her win was connected to her
relationship with Garcia. Nuestra Belleza Mexico, the pageant's ruling
body, has released a statement saying it knew nothing about "any
illicit activity in which she could be involved". According to
authorities, there is little mystery about the connection: traffickers
like to accessorise their wealth with attractive women, and none are
so highly valued as beauty queens.

For Garcia, though, his arrest signals both the resolve of the Mexican
government to curb the war between drug cartels and the relative
decline of the Juarez cartel that once dominated the illicit border
trade between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso on the US side.

Ten years ago, under the control of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, known as
"Lord of the Skies", the Juarez cartel was the most powerful in the
country. But Carrillo died in 1997 after botched plastic surgery and
control of the gang fell to his brother, Vicente. That arrangement
collapsed in 2004. Vicente went into hiding, and leadership was taken
over by Garcia's brother, Ricardo. Before Ricardo was arrested three
years ago, the cartel was still estimated to control 20% of Mexican
narcotics sold on US street and earn as much as $1bn a month. But
without strong leadership the Juarez cartel is now a shadow of its
former self.

After being arrested, Zuniga told police she and her boyfriend
were planning to go shopping in Bolivia and Colombia. But Zuniga
had told her father she was going to a Christmas party in
Guadalajara.

JesFAs Esteban Zuniga said he was not willing to accept that his
daughter had fallen in with drug traffickers. "She's a good daughter,"
he said. "She's always focused on her work and she's had a spotless
reputation ... until now."