The Curious Picture of an Apparent Unannounced Meeting John Kerry Had with a Controversial Turkish Dad

As Heard on Beck Radio: Wait Until You Read that Poem By One of Those Punished for Benghazi Lapses

World

Mexican Beauty Queen Killed in Shootout Between Soldiers and Drug Gang

Nov. 26, 2012 9:04pm Jason Howerton

Maria Susana Flores Gamez Killed in Shootout Between Soldiers and Drug Gang

In this April 26, 2012 photo, Maria Susana Flores Gamez poses for a photo for a story about upcoming representation of Mexico at a beauty pageant in China, in Culiacan, Mexico. Flores, who was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February, was killed in northern Mexico on Nov. 24, 2012 during a running gun battle between soldiers and the gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with. (Credit: AP)

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — A 20-year-old state beauty queen died in a gun battle between soldiers and the alleged gang of drug traffickers she was traveling with in a scene befitting the hit movie “Miss Bala,” or “Miss Bullet,” about Mexico’s not uncommon ties between narcos and beautiful young pageant contestants.

The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez was found Saturday lying near an assault rifle on a rural road in a mountainous area of the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa, the chief state prosecutor said Monday. It was unclear if she had used the weapon.

“She was with the gang of criminals, but we cannot say whether she participated in the shootout,” state prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera said. “That’s what we’re going to have to investigate.”

The slender brunette was voted the 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in a beauty pageant in February. She had earlier competed for the more prestigious Miss Sinaloa state beauty contest, but didn’t win.

Higuera said Flores Gamez was traveling in one of the vehicles that engaged soldiers in an hours-long chase and gun battle. Besides Flores Gamez, Higuera said two people were killed and four detained.

The shootout began when the gunmen opened fire on a Mexican army patrol. Soldiers gave chase and cornered the gang at a safe house near the town of Mocorito. They escaped, and the gun battle continued along a nearby roadway, where the gang’s vehicles were eventually stopped. Six vehicles, drugs and weapons were seized following the confrontation.

It was at least the third instance in which a beauty queen or pageant contestants have been linked to Mexico’s violent drug gangs, a theme so common it was the subject of a critically acclaimed 2011 movie.

In “Miss Bala,” Mexico’s official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of this year’s Academy Awards, a young woman competing for Miss Baja California becomes an unwilling participant in a drug-running ring, finally getting arrested for deeds she was forced into performing.

In real life, former Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga was stripped of her 2008 crown in the Hispanoamerican Queen pageant after she was detained on suspicion of drug and weapons violations. She was later released without charges.

Zuniga was detained in western Mexico in late 2010 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.

In 2011, a Colombian former model and pageant contestant was detained along with Jose Jorge Balderas, an accused drug trafficker and suspect in the 2010 bar shooting of Salvador Cabanas, a former star for Paraguay’s national football team and Mexico’s Club America. She was also later released.

Higuera said Flores Gamez’s body has been turned over to relatives for burial.

“This is a sad situation,” Higuera told a local radio station. She had been enrolled in media courses at a local university, and had been modeling and pageants since at least 2009.

Javier Valdez, the author of a 2009 book about narco ties to beauty pageants entitled “Miss Narco,” said “this is a recurrent story.”

“There is a relationship, sometimes pleasant and sometimes tragic, between organized crime and the beauty queens, the pageants, the beauty industry itself,” Valdez said.

“It is a question of privilege, power, money, but also a question of need,” said Valdez. “For a lot of these young women, it is easy to get involved with organized crime, in a country that doesn’t offer many opportunities for young people.”

Sometimes drug traffickers seek out beauty queens, but sometimes the models themselves look for narco boyfriends, Valdez said.

“I once wrote about a girl I knew of who was desperate to get a narco boyfriend,” he said. “She practically took out a classified ad saying `Looking for a Narco’.”

The stories seldom end well. In the best of cases, a beautiful woman with a tear-stained face is marched before the press in handcuffs. In the worst of cases, they simply disappear.

“They are disposable objects, the lowest link in the chain of criminal organizations, the young men recruited as gunmen and the pretty young women who are tossed away in two or three years, or are turned into police or killed.”

—

Associated Press Writer E. Eduardo Castillo contributed to this report

Benghazi, IRS, AP...What's next? Only TheBlaze TV offers the truth from Glenn Beck, Andrew Wilkow, and Real News from TheBlaze. Get instant access and a free trial here.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (34)

forgetyou
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 3:05pm
This site very is very poorly run .I have put several thoughts together on several subjects and they never get seen.on this site. Bye

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
forgetyou
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 2:57pm
What so bad. I don’t have to worry about her voting.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
MaximumBobby
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:31pm
Well, bye !

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Exidor
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:10pm
I remember when she got elected and was going to “stand up to the drug cartels”. I said right then that’s she’s a dead woman talking.

The Zetas don’t mess around. Female or not.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
branch manager
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:05pm
We welcome you with open arms into our country! Enjoy! Oh and don’t worry about the laws.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Experiment626
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 10:51am
Did the drug gang help her get selected?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Go Glenn
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 11:50am
  Very sad but deaths like this happen all the time in Mexico.
  It makes headlines when the victim is well-known.
  
  I have to wonder if the assault rifle was a gift from Eric Holder.
  
  Report this comment
- NovemberTwentyseven
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 12:24pm
  Were fast and furious guns used? Read fresh Political comentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
  Report this comment
Uechi
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:16am
So if she was ugly as a stump it would be less news worthy? A needless loss of life is just that. Unfortunately our choices in life very often determine our ultimate fate. Beautiful or ugly, dumb or smart bad choices can lead to bad/fatal results.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- DimmuBorgir
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:46am
  You are correct, ugly people and dumb people are not as important.
  
  No sarcasm
  
  Report this comment
FaiththruHearing
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 8:06am
It is a shame that this young lady lost here life. What were her goals? What is the meaning of life? She along with some other characters were focused on the here and now. How many lives were snuffed out that day. We can either harden our hearts to what is happening on our southern border or we can pray that the Almighty God will cause our Nations to turn around and to focus our lives and attention on what has everlasting value. A persoanl relationship with Jesus Christ. Where are the stories of men and women in this area of Mexico who are standing for what is right? Let us hear those stories. Let us morn for those who have chosen poorly and support those who walk uprightly.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
truthsurfer
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 7:01am
One less leach to cross our border get welfare and vote demoncrat.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- mewnani
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 9:43am
  What are you even talking about? This woman had carved her own way in life and made herself very successful. She just ended up with the worst kind of people in the process. :(
  
  Report this comment
JACKTHETOAD
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 6:53am
La Puta Grande gets her just desserts. A bitter dish indeed.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
DR4SOUL
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 4:16am
Ah, many of you may resent Beck because his predictions or expectations didn’t materialize in the last election. BUT, the truth is the truth. His exposure of Obama’s ties with Soros, socialist/communist organizations intent upon fundamentally changing America into a European-type country were right on. He is not responsible for the brain-meltdown of the slim margin of deceived or disillusioned voters who put Obama over the top. Time will reveal who was actually right and who really has the best interest of America at heart.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
WINNEBAGOMAN
Posted on November 27, 2012 at 1:57am
The U.S. should shut down most of its foreign military bases and relocate the troops and resources on or near the souther border. There is nothing short of an armed invasion of the continental U.S. by international drug cartels. The MSM wants to pretent that it’s just a few low-level criminals, but that way, way understating the situation.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Luzmaria1
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:25pm
I was born & raised in Culiacan before immigrating to the U.S. (legally) to attend the U. I have close family there still. It is so sad. These women are mostly confused and short sighted and even shorter lived. Culiacan is a very dangerous and nearly lawless place. It is so sad.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
whatthecrazy
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:59pm
If she were unattractive would this be a story?Innocent women are killled every day for as little as looking at somebody and this girl was sleepinng with danger and paid the price,how sad.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- mbriz
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:54pm
  Same could be said about Sarah Palin.
  
  Report this comment
- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on November 27, 2012 at 6:51am
  You forgot Trig! Bash the innocent Downs Syndrome Baby fathered by Sarah’s son too. You get an ‘I’ for incomplete.
  
  Report this comment
dealer@678
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:37pm
You live by the sword you die the sword

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- 1947
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:54pm
  Sorry about that…..
  
  Report this comment
JL320
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:24pm
Why can’t I cancel my blazetv account!? Just cancel it! Stop giving me a friggin circle for 45 mins+! You’re site has turned to crap, blazetv is junk, Becks head has gotten way to big, his bubble has grown way to much, and his predictions are just crap now! Cancel my flippin subscription!!!!!!!

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- dealer@678
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:43pm
  Break your meds in half and try again tomorrow
  
  Report this comment
- Fubared
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:47pm
  Use more exclamation marks, that usually expedites cancellations for me. And griping and whining when all else fails to complete strangers that couldn’t give a rip.
  
  Report this comment
- Psychosis
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:00pm
  you dont even have an account troll
  
  Report this comment
- JL320
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:17pm
  @PSYCHOSIS I’ve been a member of the blaze for over a year, I joined blazetv from the very beginning, and even had friends and my dad sign up after Beck left fox. My dad and a couple of friends got the year subscription, and how embarrassed I was after the crap doesn’t even work half the time on their rokus! I have been called troll more times on this site than any other site I have ever posted on. Beck has gone to ****, and his followers are following him straight down the toilet. I still can’t get my blazetv act cancelled! After a lot of peoples yearly subscriptions run out, I can guarantee you Beck is going to lose at least halfof them do part to crappy servers, and mostly because Beck’s bubble has gotten way to big, and his head has grown way to far up his butth0le. Keep slurpin up the beck gerber food though!
  
  Report this comment
- mbriz
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:51pm
  Finally, one of the clones sees truth, Beck is an egomaniacal clown, and you puppets are making this nut rich.
  
  Report this comment
- QuincySmith
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:55pm
  Bye Bye, jl
  
  Report this comment
- nzkiwi
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 11:36pm
  Everybody here took one look at your little rant and realised that you are a paid troll. You and your ilk are a relatively new phenomonen, but you have been exposed.
  
  If anybody is unaware of what JL is doing, then read this:
  
  http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/leftist-trolls-in-ongoing-war-with-wnd/
  
  I would wish you good luck with your career, JL, but the longer you keep it up, the more damage you will do to yourself.
  
  Report this comment
BlackCrow
Posted on November 26, 2012 at 9:17pm
Just goes to show how much good gun control does.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- lwilli201
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:03pm
  More Fast and Furious guns at work.
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:44pm
  HA HA I thought you were talking about that whiney baby JL……haha….gun control,,,,
  
  Report this comment
- Max jones
  Posted on November 26, 2012 at 10:45pm
  Gun control… use both hands, right?
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.