Venezuela Dollar Limit May Nix Beauty Queen's Hopes, Paper Says
Caracas, May 15 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Miss Venezuela may have to skip next week's Miss Universe competition, in which the country is one of the most frequent winners, because she can't get the dollars needed to attend the beauty pageant, El Nacional said.
Venezuela's restrictions on buying dollars has left the Miss Venezuela Organization, owned by Gustavo Cisneros' Venevision television station, short of the $60,000 needed to send Mariangel Ruiz, this year's Miss Venezuela, to Panama for the contest, the newspaper said.
If the organization can't buy the dollars it needs, Venezuela won't have a beauty queen in the pageant for the first time since 1959. Venezuelan women have won the Miss Universe title four times since then, tying with Puerto Rico as the second-most frequent winner. Women from the U.S. have won the title six times. The pageant begins next week, with the crowning on June 3.
Venezuela banned dollar sales in January to stem a decline in international reserves after a two-month strike cut oil output, which accounts for 43 percent of government revenue. Limited dollar sales began last month but only for some foods, medicines and students studying abroad.
Ruiz said a decision should be made later today, the paper said. Venevision officials declined immediate comment.
(EN, 5/15, A20)
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