Nicaraguan authorities have barred the director of the national beauty pageant from re-entering the country after a Nicaraguan woman seen as a symbol of opposition to the government was crowned Miss Universe, media reports and exiled opposition members said.
Karen Celebertti and her daughter were detained upon their arrival at the Managua airport — days after seeing 23-year-old Sheynnis Palacios crowned as the first Miss Universe from Nicaragua — and placed on a flight to Mexico, the opposition-linked La Prensa newspaper reported.
The government “blocked Karen Celebertti, owner of the Miss Nicaragua franchise, and her daughter from entering the country,” the Costa Rica-based Nicaraguan daily said on its Web site.
Photo: AFP
It was unclear on what grounds Celebertti, a Nicaraguan national, was barred entry. The government has made no comment on the matter.
The writer Gioconda Belli, who lives in Spain after being stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality by the government, contended that Celebertti was blocked at the orders of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, despite her success in helping a Nicaraguan win the prestigious contest.
Opposition media also reported that Celebertti’s Managua home had been searched on Friday and her husband, Martin Arguello, briefly detained.
In a statement to Agence France-Presse, the Miss Universe Organization called on the Nicaraguan government to “guarantee” the safety of those associated with the local affiliates of the pageant.
“We are working to guarantee the safety of all members of the organization, and we call on the government of Nicaragua to guarantee their safety,” it said.
Since Palacios was crowned Miss Universe on Nov. 18 in San Salvador, she has been widely portrayed as a symbol of opposition to Ortega.
Photos showing her waving the Nicaraguan flag at anti-government protests in 2018 have gone viral, and her victory brought joyful crowds into Nicaragua’s streets in the biggest public displays since such gatherings were banned five years ago.
Murillo on Wednesday last week blasted the publication of such photos as “malicious [and] terrorist communications that aim to transform a beautiful moment of pride and well-deserved celebration into a destructive coup.”
The Nicaraguan opposition has portrayed Palacios’ victory as a sign of hope. Some in the celebratory crowds waved the blue-and-white national flag, seen as a symbol of opposition, unlike the partisan red-and-black flag of the ruling Sandinista Front.
“I’m so happy to see the joy of Nicaraguans and to see them bring out the clandestine blue and white... Thanks to Sheynnis,” the writer Belli wrote on X.
Opposition sources said that on Tuesday last week, government officials barred two artists from completing a mural of the new Miss Universe in the northern city of Esteli. Photos of the unfinished fresco have circulated on social media.
“It is impossible to view this inoffensive contest without considering the political and social reality. She has become a national and emotional symbol who has restored hope. And the government understands this,” said prize-winning Nicaraguan journalist Wilfredo Miranda, who lives in exile in Costa Rica.
Many exiles even viewed the outfit in which Palacios was crowned — a flowing white dress with a blue cape resembling images of Nicaragua’s patron saint, the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception — as symbolic amid a government crackdown on the Catholic Church.
“Thank you for bringing joy to our suffering people, thank you for giving us hope,” Monsignor Silvio Baez, the auxiliary bishop of Managua, wrote on X.
He lives in exile in the US.
A government clampdown on the 2018 protests left more than 350 dead and more than 100,000 in exile. The government has since jailed hundreds of critics.
Palacios rose from a modest upbringing in the city of Diriamba, in Carazo department. She, her mother and grandmother started a business selling Nicaraguan sweet fried dough. Before her victory, a pro-government television presenter had disdainfully nicknamed her “Miss Fritters.”
Exiled Nicaraguan media have not forgotten. Nor have they forgotten that she studied at the Central American University, a Jesuit school closed last August by the government as a “center of terrorism.”
The new Miss Universe, who left El Salvador on a multination tour, has dedicated her victory to the 6 million Nicaraguans — whether in the country or in exile.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS