Miss Venezuela to participate in Miss Universe pageant   

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Panama City, May 20: Doubts over whether Venezuela, famed for its beauty show winners, could afford to enter this year's Miss Universe contest were resolved when the organisers announced that Miss Venezuela would take part after all.

The main sponsor of Miss Venezuela, private television channel Venevision, said last week it could not obtain the hard currency needed to send beauty queen Mariangel Ruiz to the contest in Panama, blaming tight foreign exchange controls imposed by the Caracas government to stem capital flight.

But the president of the Miss Universe organisation, Paula Shugart, said in a statement yesterday that brown-haired Ruiz would compete in the contest next month.

She did not explain how the issue had been resolved, but in a separate news release Venevision expressed thanks to Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso. It was not clear what part the President played in making it possible for Miss Venezuela to enter.

Venezuelan women have won four miss universe crowns, five Miss World crowns and three Miss International crowns.

The Miss Universe pageant began in 1951 and has a television audience of 600 million in 176 countries, according to the organizers.