Miss América Latina

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Contents 1 History 2 Winners 3 Trivia 4 Notes

Miss América Latina, known in English as Miss Latin America, is an international beauty contest held annually. It is organized by the Miss América Latina Organization. Despite its name, the contest is not restricted to only Latin American nations. It is designed for women of Latina descent across the globe. There is an average of about 20 contestants every year. It has two sister pageants: Miss Latina US (which selects the US delegate to Miss América Latina) and Miss Teen US Latina.

[edit] History

The Miss América Latina pageant was founded in the early 1980s. The first edition was held in 1981, when it was open to only Latina contestants in Miami, Florida, United States. In 1983, the contest went international.

[edit] Winners

Year	Name	Country	Venue
1983	María Rosa	Puerto Rico	Miami, Florida, USA
1984	Mirla Ochoa	Venezuela	Miami Beach, Florida, USA
1985	Victoria Mauríz	Dominican Republic	Miami Beach, Florida, USA
1986	Lucia Collado	Dominican Republic	San José, Costa Rica
1987	Lorenia Burruel[1]	Mexico	Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
1988			NOT HELD
1989	Suzanne Hannaux	El Salvador	Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
1990	Vanessa Holler	Venezuela	San Salvador, El Salvador
1991	María Elena Bellido	Peru	Buenos Aires, Argentina
1992	Ana Sofía Pereira	Nicaragua	Guayaquil, Ecuador
1993	María Fernanda Morales	Guatemala	Guatemala City, Guatemala
1994	Priscila Furlan[2]	Brazil	Guayaquil, Ecuador
1995			NOT HELD
1996	Jeannette Chávez[3]	Costa Rica	Lima, Peru
1997			NOT HELD
1998	Aline Resende[4]	Brazil	Costa del Sol, El Salvador
1999			NOT HELD
2000	Dania Prince	Honduras	Guatemala City, Guatemala
2001	Grace Martins	Brazil	Montelimar Beach, Nicaragua
2002	Claudia Cruz	Dominican Republic	Bávaro Beach, Dominican Republic
2003	Maria Carolina Casado	Venezuela	Playa Tambor, Costa Rica
2004	Gamalis Fermín	Puerto Rico	Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico
2005	Mariela Candia	Paraguay	Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
2006	Melissa Quesada	United States	Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico
2007	Giannina Silva[5]	Uruguay	Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo, Mexico
	Heidi Garcia[5]	Guatemala

[edit] Trivia

• Only two nations, the United States and Puerto Rico, have attended all 21 events. The following countries missed only once: Mexico (1983), Peru (1983), Guatemala (1992), Venezuela (1993), Dominican Republic (2003), Honduras (2005) and Costa Rica (2006).
• Three countries are tied for the most wins: Brazil (1994-95, 1997-98 and 2001), Dominican Republic (1985, 1986 and 2002) and Venezuela (1984, 1990, and 2003). The Dominican Republic is also the only country to have won the title consecutively in 1985 and 1986.
• In 1994, Brazil became the first country whose official language isn't Spanish to win the title. The only other country to accomplish this feat is the United States, who won in 2006.
• Guatemala was the first country to have a winner crowned on home soil. This happened when Miss América Latina 1993, María Fernanda Morales, of Guatemala, was crowned in Guatemala City. Later on the Dominican Republic's Claudia Cruz was crowned Miss América Latina 2002 in Bávaro Beach, Dominican Republic.
• With four first runners-up, Colombia is the country with the most second-place girls. However, the country has yet to capture the title. (They were 1st runner-up in 1986, 2000, 2001 and 2003.)
• With 14 placements, Colombia is the nation with the most placements. However, the country has never won. Second with 13 is Brazil, then Peru and Venezuela are tied for third with 11 each. The other nations with 10 placements are Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States^[6]
• Two winners have also competed at Miss Universe. Dania Prince (2000) also represented Honduras at Miss Universe 1998 and later won Miss Earth 2003. Giannina Silva, the original 2007 winner, had just competed at Miss Universe 2007 just two weeks prior to being crowned.
• In 1983, 1984 and 1985, various states of the United States competed individually. They had a large impact. In 1983, Texas was second runner-up and Florida, Arizona and California were finalists. Florida later had two first runners-up in 1984 and 1985. Arizona was also second runner-up in 1985. Ironically, the U.S. wouldn't place after sending just one representative until 2001.
• Because the events held in 1981 and 1982 were restricted to Latina contestants in Miami, Florida, the winners aren't generally regarded as official Miss América Latinas. However, the official website does note them as winners. Miss América Latina 1981 was Lesley Quintana and Miss América Latina 1982 was Martha Alvarez.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The 1988 event was postponed until 1989 because of the Mexican presidential inauguration, and thus Lorenia Burruel was named Miss América Latina 1987-88
2. ^ The 1995 event was canceled due to a national crisis in the host city. Priscila Furlan was then named Miss América Latina 1994-95.
3. ^ The 1997 event was postponed for unknown reasons. Thus, Jeannette Chávez's title was extended to Miss América Latina 1996-97
4. ^ The 1999 event was renamed to Miss América Latina 2000 in order to post-date the titles. Aline Resende's title was changed to Miss América Latina 1998-99.
5. ^ ^{a b} Giannina Silva of Uruguay was originally crowned Miss América Latina 2007 on June 15, 2007. However, she was dethroned three months later and was replaced by her first runner-up, Guatemala's Heidi Garcia.
6. ^ Each placement by individual states in 1983, 1984 and 1985 are counted as one placement for the United States (e.g. Texas, Florida, Arizona and California placed in 1983. Subsequently the U.S. receives 4 counts for placing officially.) In this manner seven of their ten placements were achieved in this three-year period.