Nicaragua’s Miss Universe win exposes deep political divide

Nicaragua’s increasingly isolated and repressive government thought it had scored a rare public relations victory last week when Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios won the Miss Universe competition.

But the “legitimate joy and pride” President Daniel Ortega’s government expressed in a statement Sunday after the win quickly turned to angry condemnation, after it emerged that Palacios graduated from a college at the center of 2018 protests against the government — and that she apparently participated in the marches.

Ordinary Nicaraguans — who are largely forbidden to protest or carry the national flag in marches — took advantage of Palacios’ win Saturday night as a rare opportunity to celebrate in the streets.

Their use of the blue-and-white national flag, as opposed to Ortega’s red-and-black Sandinista banner, didn’t sit well with the government.

Palacios’ victory, along with photos she posted on Facebook in 2018 of herself participating in the protests, overjoyed Nicaragua’s opposition.

Silvio Báez, one of dozens of Roman Catholic priests who have been jailed or forced into exile by the government, congratulated Palacios in his social media accounts.

“Thank you for bringing joy to our long-suffering country!” Báez wrote. “Thank you for giving us hope for a better future for our beautiful country!”

With rhetoric reminiscent of North Korea, Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo lashed out Wednesday at opposition social media sites — many run from exile — that celebrated Palacios’ win as a victory for the opposition.

“In these days of a new victory, we are seeing the evil, terrorist commentators making a clumsy and insulting attempt to turn what should be a beautiful and well-deserved moment of pride into destructive coup-mongering,” Murillo said.

Thousands have fled into exile since Nicaraguan security forces violently put down the 2018 mass anti-government protests. Ortega says the protests were an attempted coup with foreign backing.

Ortega’s government seized and closed the Jesuit University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for the protests, along with at least 26 other Nicaraguan universities.

The government has also outlawed or shut down more than 3,000 civic groups and nongovernmental organizations and arrested and expelled opponents, stripped them of their citizenship and confiscated their assets.

Palacios, who became the first Nicaraguan and first Central American to win Miss Universe, has not commented on the situation.

During the contest, Palacios, 23, said she wanted to promote mental health after suffering debilitating bouts of anxiety herself. She also said she wanted to work to close the gender salary gap so that women could work in any sector.

But on a since-deleted Facebook account under her name, Palacios posted photos of herself at a protest, writing that she had initially been afraid of participating: “I didn’t know whether to go, I was afraid of what might happen.”

Some who attended the march that day recall seeing the tall, striking Palacios there.

The protests were quickly put down. Human rights officials say 355 people were killed by government forces.

Nicaragua’s increasingly isolated and repressive government thought it had scored a rare public relations victory last week when Miss Nicaragua Sheynnis Palacios won the Miss Universe competition.

But the “legitimate joy and pride” President Daniel Ortega’s government expressed in a statement Sunday after the win quickly turned to angry condemnation, after it emerged that Palacios graduated from a college at the center of 2018 protests against the government — and that she apparently participated in the marches.

Ordinary Nicaraguans — who are largely forbidden to protest or carry the national flag in marches — took advantage of Palacios’ win Saturday night as a rare opportunity to celebrate in the streets.

Their use of the blue-and-white national flag, as opposed to Ortega’s red-and-black Sandinista banner, didn’t sit well with the government.

Palacios’ victory, along with photos she posted on Facebook in 2018 of herself participating in the protests, overjoyed Nicaragua’s opposition.

Silvio Báez, one of dozens of Roman Catholic priests who have been jailed or forced into exile by the government, congratulated Palacios in his social media accounts.

“Thank you for bringing joy to our long-suffering country!” Báez wrote. “Thank you for giving us hope for a better future for our beautiful country!”

With rhetoric reminiscent of North Korea, Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo lashed out Wednesday at opposition social media sites — many run from exile — that celebrated Palacios’ win as a victory for the opposition.

“In these days of a new victory, we are seeing the evil, terrorist commentators making a clumsy and insulting attempt to turn what should be a beautiful and well-deserved moment of pride into destructive coup-mongering,” Murillo said.

Thousands have fled into exile since Nicaraguan security forces violently put down the 2018 mass anti-government protests. Ortega says the protests were an attempted coup with foreign backing.

Ortega’s government seized and closed the Jesuit University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for the protests, along with at least 26 other Nicaraguan universities.

The government has also outlawed or shut down more than 3,000 civic groups and nongovernmental organizations and arrested and expelled opponents, stripped them of their citizenship and confiscated their assets.

Palacios, who became the first Nicaraguan and first Central American to win Miss Universe, has not commented on the situation.

During the contest, Palacios, 23, said she wanted to promote mental health after suffering debilitating bouts of anxiety herself. She also said she wanted to work to close the gender salary gap so that women could work in any sector.

But on a since-deleted Facebook account under her name, Palacios posted photos of herself at a protest, writing that she had initially been afraid of participating: “I didn’t know whether to go, I was afraid of what might happen.”

Some who attended the march that day recall seeing the tall, striking Palacios there.

The protests were quickly put down. Human rights officials say 355 people were killed by government forces.