Luz Marina Zuluaga

Pageant titleholder bio
photo=
title=Miss Caldas 1957
Miss Colombia 1957
Miss Universe 1958
nationalcompetition=Miss Colombia 1957 (1st runner-up)
Miss Universe 1958
location= Pereira, Colombia
birthname= Luz Marina Zuluaga
birth = birth date and age|1938|10|3
height=height|ft=5|in=8
eye color= Brown
hair color= Brown

Luz Marina Zuluaga (born October 31, 1938) is a Colombian beauty pageant winner and Miss Universe 1958. She is the only Colombian in history to hold the Miss Universe title.

Biography

Luz Marina Zuluaga was born in Pereira to an impoverished family. She moved to Manizales, (Department of Caldas) as a small child and grew up there. She applied for the Miss Caldas contest, and she won 1957. After her election, controversy arose as many residents of the state thought she shouldn't represent Caldas because she had been born in Pereira, which is in the department of Risaralda. However, Zuluaga went on with her training towards the Miss Colombia contest and arrived in Cartagena, hoping to win the Miss Colombia title.

Miss Colombia 1957

Zuluaga did not win the contest, she finished First Runner-up instead. However, before the Miss Universe pageant, Miss Colombia 1957, Doris Gil Santamaria, got married. As one of the rules of the Miss Universe worldwide franchises is that no candidate can be married before the final contest itself, Gil Santamaria had to abdicate the title, making Zuluaga Miss Colombia by default.

Miss Universe

Zuluaga had little time to prepare for the Miss Universe pageant. But she was making history simply by representing her country in the contest - it was the first time that Colombia had a delegate in the prestigious beauty pageant.

The contest took place in Long Beach, California, on July 25, 1958. After Zuluaga was announced as winner and new Miss Universe, most television and radio stations in Colombia (as much as seventy-three) stopped their regular programming to report the breaking news.

Zuluaga was not immediately able to return to her country, as Miss Universe personnel feared for her security because at the time Colombia was going through a period of extreme political volatility. When she eventually returned home, she was welcomed by large crowds both at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá and at Manizales airport.

By now, the citizens of Manizales had accepted her as if she had been a native of the area. Learning that her family was not well off economically, many citizens collected money, which was used to build a better house for Zuluaga and her family.

Life After Titleholding

After years outside the spotlight, Zuluaga made headlines again when she married a medical doctor and moved to the United States. In 1966, she returned to Manizales and became involved with the city council as well as with the state's institute of tourism, of which she eventually became director.

Zuluaga has three sons and a daughter (who was also Miss Caldas, and she blamed the very fact of being treated by the public as merely the daughter of a former Miss Universe for not having won the 1991 Miss Colombia title).

External links

*es icon [http://www.colombia.com/biografias/autonoticias/DetalleNoticia545.asp Colombia.com]