In Latin communities, beauty contests are more than just pomp and pageantry

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005 | 7:55 a.m.

Nine young women, some barely out of their teens, giggled nervously in their sparkling evening gowns.

Some shivered in the outdoor chill. One smoked a cigarette. Another explained excitedly in Portuguese to three or four more about how the final lineup on the catwalk was supposed to look.

Minutes later, amidst tears, hugs and smiles, Rafaela Souza was crowned as the first Miss Brasil Las Vegas. About 100 local Brazilians cheered wildly.

The scene is increasingly common in the valley, as immigrant populations from Latin American countries increase, bringing with them a particular affection for beauty queens and events to choose them.

"As the Latin community grows, its cultural diversity also grows -- the Brazilians, Central Americans, Caribbean people, and the rest -- and they bring their roots with them ... including their beauty pageants," said Hernando Amaya, editor at the Spanish-language newspaper, El Tiempo Libre, and also the emcee at the Oct. 24 Miss Colombia Las Vegas pageant.

Brazil's event was the first Las Vegas feeder to the 14-year-old Miss Brasil USA.

The local Miss Colombia contest was only the third organized by members of a community estimated at about 3,000 in the valley.

On Tuesday, Azteca America's local cable channel began airing a variety program hosted in part by former Miss Colombia Las Vegas, Luisa Fernanda Cruz, and Miss "National Holiday" 2005, Adriana Garcia.

And on Dec. 18, the second Miss Mexico Las Vegas will be crowned after having gone through a 15-week course at a sort of Latin beauty queen prep school in North Las Vegas.

Several people connected with these events tried to explain the difference between choosing a beauty queen in the United States -- considered the birthplace of the modern pageant, with the launching of the first Miss America in 1921 -- and the ubiquitous, often hotly debated contests in Latin America.

But Souza, the 21-year-old now representing the Brazilian community in Las Vegas, may have said it best.

"In the United States, everything revolves around money. In Brazil, no -- it's more of a cultural event," she said.

Carlos Borges, organizer of the Miss Brasil Las Vegas event, called the pageant "a historical moment" for the local community from the South American nation. It will be sending a representative for the first time to February's national pageant in Florida.

He said the community's size -- an estimated 4,000 -- had reached the point where the local pageant could be successful.

Borges also echoed Souza.

"The United States invented this (pageants) but for them, it's a business. For us, the woman as beauty queen is like an ideal."

Adam Perez, the general manager at Adaluz International, producer of Miss Mexico Las Vegas, said, "In our countries, beauty pageants are very important ... like the Super Bowl in the U.S."

Perez is from Venezuela, where pageants are an obsession of sorts. Miss Venezuela has been among the top four runner-ups in Miss Universe five times since 2000.

The Venezuelan entrepreneur founded Adaluz three years ago to take on both the production of local beauty pageants in the Latin community and to prepare contestants at an academy.

Currently, 14 contestants for Miss Mexico 2006 are nearing the end of a four-month course that includes makeup, modeling and choreography at the Adaluz International Beauty Queen Academy.

At the same time, the contestants are getting a crash course in Mexican geography and history, courtesy of the Mexican Consulate of Las Vegas.

Perez said the next step is to develop a Miss International Latin Beauty contest with contestants from Latin countries represented in Las Vegas.

Perhaps one of the most telling signs of the fever for beauty queens spreading through Latin Las Vegas could be seen in the reaction by Marlene Onate to the two most recent contests.

She's the treasurer for the Chilean Association of Nevada, and she was at Miss Colombia Las Vegas and Miss Brasil Las Vegas on two consecutive weekends in October.

She said the events inspired her to talk with fellow association members about creating a Miss Chile Las Vegas, to "represent our youth and our culture."

She'd like to see an event in which young Chilean women "not only show the physical part, but also help the community."

At the same time, she allowed that her Chileans were one of the smallest among Latin American communities, with about 1,000 living in the valley.

Still, she said, if the Brazilians "can do it, we can."

Meanwhile, Rafaela Souza was looking toward her new life as queen for a year.

She said it is "a lot of responsibility."

"You represent your country everywhere you go. If you're in a party, you have to watch how you behave, how you dress, what you do.

"It's like you're famous, but in a small community."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or at timothy@lasvegassun.com.