Businessman bails out beauty

The Courier-Mail From correspondents in Panama City 21may03

A DONATION from a businessman has rescued Venezuela's entry in this year's Miss Universe contest. Media magnate Gustavo Cisneros, head of the Cisneros Group, has offered to pay the costs of Mariangel Ruiz after Venezuela's organising committee announced it could not afford to send her to the event in Panama.

Since 1979, Venezuelan women have won four Miss Universe titles, five Miss Worlds and three Miss Internationals.

Cisneros said: "The historic brotherhood between Panama and Venezuela obliges us to make our best effort so that this beautiful girl can come here to demonstrate once again the beauty and intelligence of the Venezuelan woman."

The chief of the Miss Venezuela Organisation, Osmel Sousa, said last week that tight foreign exchange controls had made it difficult to obtain the $US80,000 ($122,520) needed to send Ruiz to the event.

The Cisneros Group owns Venevision television, which had announced that Miss Venezuela would not go to the Panama pageant for "political and economic reasons". The government had no comment.

Cisneros said: "(Despite) the real difficulties that Venezuela is experiencing, our decision (to send Miss Venezuela) is the fruit of our commitment to the public."

Earlier this year, Cisneros accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of restricting press freedoms after regulators began proceedings to fine or revoke the licences of two television stations.

Chavez has alleged that Cisneros is trying to destabilise the government.