Tomorrow is the big day, the day that the Miss Universe organization will choose a new beauty queen, chosen from among contestants from 88 countries.
The competition, that stated on January 5, will end Sunday night with the winner wearing a tiara valued at US$300.000 dollars.
For Costa Rica, Karina Ramos is seeking to be the first Tica to win the Miss Universe crown.
During the week the organizers of the pageant held a preliminary competition to determine which of the girls would round out the Top 15 and remain in the contest.
The beauty queens modeled in evening wear and shared their national costumes, representative of their roots and the country they each represent. Experts have weighed in and have named their Top 10 favorite women to take home the crown.
In that list, there are 7 Latinas that have a huge shot of winning.
- Costa Rica, Karina Ramos (21)
- México, Josselyn Garciglia (24)
- Ecuador, Alejandra Argudo (22)
- Colombia, Paulina Vega (22)
- Brazil, Melissa Gurgel (20)
- Miss Peru, Jimena Espinosa (26)
- Miss Venezuela, Migbelis Castellanos (19)
Click here for the list of ALL contestants
Beauty pageants are big business in Latin American countries, where girls are groomed from an early age. “There’s a lot of pride,” Miss Colombia Paulina Vega said.
“Latin women, Latin people, are very emphatic. They have it in their blood, right? So, it could be true that maybe between the Latin women there may be more competition,” Miss Bolivia Claudia Tavel said. “And we hope that this year, like brothers, we’ll support (each other) and that Miss Universe will be a good-hearted woman, and be a Latina.”
At 19, Miss Venezuela Migbelis Castellanos is one of the youngest contestants in the pageant. She especially is feeling the heat — three of the last six titles have gone to Venezuelans. “I have the pressure and the support from all the Venezuelans,” she said.
