On Sunday August 23rd, an 18 year old Stefania Fernandez, representing Venezuela, won the Miss Universe crown making Venezuela the first country to win back to back crowns. Ada Aimee De La Cruz of the Dominican Republic earned the 1st runner up spot and Puerto Rico was also in the top 5 of the competition. When watching the Miss Universe pageant I couldn’t help but be proud of these women representing Latinas worldwide.

It is said that in 1966, representatives from Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay, Venezuela and Brazil gave a press conference and stated that they were “the nothings of the contest” and that European contestants were given preferential treatment. True or not, in the past 57 years of the Miss Universe pageant Latinas have been title holders about 37% of the time. Within the past 9 years alone both Puerto Rico and Venezuela have won twice while Panama and the Dominican Republic won their first crowns as well.

So I did a little research and found a great site (Who Has the Most Miss Universes) and this is what I found. As far as title holders go, U.S.A. is #1 with 7 crowns, followed by Venezuela with 6 and Puerto Rico with 5. Brazil has won twice while 8 (Latin/Spanish) countries have had one Miss Universe winner: Peru, Columbia, Argentina, Spain, Chile, Mexico, Panama, and Dominican Republic. And this does not even include those who were runner ups and semi-finalists.

Here are some stats on the number of semi-finalists and 1st runner ups each (Latin/Spanish) country has had throughout the Miss Universe pageants:

What did I think about the 2009 Miss Universe Pageant? I did not think Venezuela was going to win! Not because I did not think she deserved it, I just did not believe the Miss Universe organization would have a Latina winner two years in a row. It is a little conspiracy theory of mine, since in the most recent years the winners have varied each year. So I thought Australia was going to take it. But of course I was thrilled to see Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico up there in the top 5! Although I do feel Mexico should have been up there too, but I may be a little biased