Dozens of Venezuelan beauty queens among those fleeing country
4,720 views · Published 21 November 2018 · 4:19 · Indexed 25 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · Entertainment
(15 Nov 2018) DOZENS OF VENEZUELAN BEAUTY QUEENS AMONG THOSE FLEEING COUNTRY As thousands of people leave Venezuela each day to escape food shortages and an inflation rate that is expected to reach 1 million percent, dozens of beauty queens are also taking flight and finding work as models and media personalities overseas. Some are also representing their adopted homelands in international beauty pageants that include Miss Earth, Miss World and the Miss Universe pageant that will take place in Thailand in December. At Giselle's Beauty School in Caracas, young women learn to sway their hips and glide gracefully down a corridor which is lined with photographs of the country's famous pageant winners. Many of the women there want to become models and beauty queens. But increasingly they are finding that they must leave the country in order to pursue their dreams. Giselle Reyes is the school's director. She estimates that over the past decade, 70 percent of her graduates have left the country. One beauty queen who recently left Venezuela is 22-year-old Jessica Russo who moved to Peru a year ago with her family. Recently she represented her new homeland at the Miss World Pageant in the Philippines, where she was joined by Carolina Jane, a Venezuelan model who represented Spain. Venezuela has long been a world leader in beauty pageants. The South American country has seven Miss Universe crowns and Six Miss World titles, and many people here follow pageants closely, as if they were a popular sport. But the country's economic crisis is stripping its beauty queens of job opportunities at home, as fashion shows and ad campaigns grind to a halt. Many of the Venezuelan beauty queens who have gone abroad credit their rigid preparation in Venezuela with their success abroad. But some say that they are also relieved to be free of the cookie-cutter beauty standards imposed by pageant organisers in Venezuela. Andrea Diaz moved to Chile three years ago from Venezuela. Now she will be representing her new home at the upcoming Miss Universe Pageant. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5753129b65f37a387ad545151217a28f
