Beauty queens become trophies of Central American cartels

It has become as much a part of the narco life as guns, jewellery and bodyguards – a young beauty queen as an accessory and trophy.

María José Alvarado (19), Miss Honduras 2014, was murdered by her boyfriend, Plutarco Ruiz (32), last month after he flew into a rage on seeing her dancing with another man at a party. Ruiz allegedly shot Alvarado and her sister Sofia in full view of two dozen guests before cleaning up the crime scene and disposing of the bodies in nearby woodland.

Ruiz, suspected of involvement in a local drug cartel, was arrested a week later and led police to the bodies. Alvarado was the third beauty queen in the region to be killed this year following the death of Mónica Spear, Miss Venezuela 2014, during a robbery and Génesis Carmona, Miss Tourism Venezuela 2013, while attending an anti-government demonstration.

In Honduras and elsewhere, beauty contests have become a national pastime, bringing valuable contracts for television and advertising along with the attention of crime bosses keen to be seen with beautiful women. “Wearing the crown has become a high-risk profession,” said Adam Blackwell, minister for security affairs at the Organisation of American States.

The tradition began with Colombian cartel chief Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, who married Marta Lucía Echeverry, Miss Colombia 1974, and was reaffirmed in 2008 when Mexico's best-known drug trafficker, Joaquin "el Chapo" Guzman (53), married Emma Coronel, the queen of the local coffee and guava fair, aged 18.

The contests, initially annual competitions, have become daily events as every town, city and province celebrate their own Miss Coffee, Miss Cocoa, Miss Farming and Miss Carnival.

And the body count rises: Miss Sinaloa 2012, Susana Flores, died last year during a shoot-out between gunmen and army troops seeking the capture of her partner, Iván Gastelum, a cartel hitman. Some beauty queens have adapted to their new circumstances, aiding their criminal partners.

Angie Sanclemente, Colombia's Miss Coffee 2000, was married to Mexican drug lord "El Monstruo". She recruited models to serve as drug mules but was arrested and jailed in Argentina in 2010, serving three years before being deported back to Colombia.

The Centre for Women’s Rightsdenounced 328 murders of women in Honduras this year.

In Mexico, five women a day are murdered, sparking a new category of crime, "feminicidio" accounting for 4,000 deaths in the past two years.MICHAEL McCAUGHAN