2023-09-12 12:50:35
With a spatula
A Venezuelan immigrant was elected Miss Grand Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday night in Port of Spaincapital of that Anglophone archipelago facing Venezuela and where migration from its neighbor is at the center of the political debate.
Mileidy Materano, 29 years old and who played “Barbie” in local advertising campaigns for the American filmwill represent the country in the Miss Grand International beauty pageant, which will be held in Vietnam on October 25.
Materano, who has lived in Diego Martín (northwest) for six years, used a translator during the question and answer session of the contest, but his representative, Charisse Parsons, told AFP that “speaks English wonderfully well“.
He explained that the rules of the contest created in Thailand do not prevent the Venezuelan from representing Trinidad and Tobago.
The Miss Grand International contest says it wants to show “a modern woman who must be beautiful, skilled and intelligent so that she can be an icon for women around the world“.
The choice of the Venezuelan generated debates on social networks.
“What a lack of respect, in a country where there are so many beautiful women, to choose a foreigner to represent us“wrote a user on Facebook. Another spoke of “colorism” when highlighting that the winner has “light skin and straight hair“.
Trinidad and Tobago, with 1.4 million inhabitants, hosts between 100,000 and 120,000 migrants, of which about 60,000 are Venezuelans, according to estimates by NGOs and politicians.
The majority emigrated since 2013 due to the economic collapse of Venezuela, whose GDP has fallen by 80% in ten years. According to the UN, some 7 million of the 30 million Venezuelans left the country to escape the crisis.
Various international beauty pageants are held around the world. Miss World 2023 will be in December in India and Miss Universe 2023 will be in November in El Salvador. AFP
#Election #Venezuelan #Trinidad #Tobago #fuels #debate #migration