Latin American Beauties Who Almost Made It...

Undoubtedly, Latin American women are always a force to reckon with. In the Miss Universe pageant, they are always standouts. A lot of Latin American women have coveted the title of Miss Universe, the last being Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico. The following women, though they did not win, were almost an inch away from the crown and it can never be denied how they gave the eventual winner tough competition. Here's a tribute to those amazing Latinas who were as outstanding as the winners in their respective years...

Maribel Arrieta, Miss El Salvador 1955

The three Colombian first runner up, from left to right. Paola Turbay (1992), Paula Andrea Betancourt (1993) &

Carolina Gómez (1994)

One hard record to beat are the three consecutive years when Colombia could have produced 5 winners putting it on top of the Miss Universe winners tally. Paola Turbay was a huge favorite in Bangkok in 1992 along with fellow Latina Carolina Izsak of Venezuela but the crown went to a blonde and statuesque white African, Michelle Mclean of Namibia. Another Paola the following year, Paola Betancourt was a huge favorite in Mexico City again along with fellow Latina, Milka Chulina who eventually was the second runner up. At the end of the night, an equally gorgeous Latina, Puerto Rico's Dayanara Torres, won the third title for her country. 1994 in Manila, Colombia vowed to avenge the past two years' losses with the breathtaking Carolina Gomez. At the start of the pageant activities, Carolina started to make waves as an early favorite. She was consistently in everybody's prediction list and she proved it by topping the preliminary pageant. Later in the finals, she would register the highest ever Evening Gown score in the pageant's history of televised judges' scores. But alas, at the end of the night, the brilliant and enigmatic Sushmita Sen of India (hardly noticed during the pre-pageant events) surprised everyone and emerged as the darkhorse to win the first title for her country.

The land of beautiful women Venezuela is of no exception. With Maritza, Irene, Barbara, and Alicia winning the title , this country is always a force to reckon with every year in the Miss Universe. But prior to these four women winning the title, there were already two women from Venezuela who almost made it, Mariela Pérez Branger who was first runner up to USA's Sylvia Louise Hitchcock in 1967 and Judith Josefina Castillo who was first runner up to Israel's Rina Messinger in 1976. Then came Marena Bencomo who almost made consecutive wins for Venezuela in 1997 just after Alicia Machado won the first title for Venezuela after 6 years but a woman from Hawaii, Brooke Mahealani Lee, edged her out with her refreshing beauty, engaging personality, and quick wits. Then in the following year, Venezuela sent a head-turning beauty to avenge Marena's defeat. The venue? Hawaii! The land of Brooke who defeated Marena. Veruzka was a sure winner. Armed with a very beautiful face, a perfectly shaped body(she registered the highest swimsuit score before the new millenium), and an aura of a confident winner, Veruzka was almost number 1 in everyone's list. But then again, she finished second to Wendy of Trinidad and Tobago. To end the millenium, Venezuela did it again when Claudia Moreno was first runner up to the unstoppable Lara Dutta of India. Had these Venezuelans won the crown, it would have been a record extremely difficult to break in any international pageant- having 3 consecutive winners.

The new millenium produced four more "close-to-the-crown" beauties" except for Panama's Justine Pasek who took over Oxana when the latter was stripped off the title. Mariangel Ruiz in 2003 had a neck to neck battle with fellow Latina Amelia Vega of Dominican Republic who eventually won. Cynthia Olavarria of Puerto Rico was every inch a winner but the crown went to Canada's Natalie Glebova in 2005, same year when Latinas ruled the semifinals. Surprisingly, Puerto Rico's Zuleyka Rivera succeeded in the following year what Colombia and Venezuela failed to make, avenging the near win of their delegates. Surprisingly again in 2007, Japan did what Puerto Rico did the past year. Riyo Mori of Japan, armed like a samurai, avenged Kurara's defeat to Zuleyka. The last first runner up from Latin America is Brazil's Natália Aparecida Guimarães who was almost there. Following the sequence of events(first runner up this year, winner next year), will Brazil win this year's Miss Universe Pageant in Vietnam. Let's find out....

Photo Credits:

elanecdotario.com

signonsandiego.com

imageshack.us