History of El Salvador hosting Miss Universe

It is officially confirmed. As you may have heard right before the crowning ceremony of the 71st edition, a promotional video was released right in front of the audience as a very big surprise. Nayib Bukele, the incumbent president of El Salvador, has confirmed that the 72nd edition will be held in his country. I can see that this is the first time in 7 years that a host country was officially declared during the telecast, this is a big plus.

This is not the first time it was held in the Central American nation. The last time it was held there was back in 1975, 19th of July. Arturo Armando Molina Barraza was president back then under military rule. During his 6 years in office, food prices increased and the agricultural output decreased, leading to the Oil Crisis of ‘73. According to William Walters (1997), “this worsened the existent socioeconomic inequality in the country, leading to increased unrest. In response, Molina enacted a series of land reform measures, calling for large landholdings to be redistributed among the peasant population.”

Speaking of unrest, this connects to the growing said unrest during the 1975 edition. The New York Times reported on August 5th, saying that this edition was not a happy one. University and college students protest against the military action of the government, and the said government said it was seen as a Communist plot, as that is what they called. “Off-camera heavily armed troops were called out to halt demonstrations by students protesting the Government's expenditure of a million U.S. dollars on the contest” (New York Times). 11 days later, a massacre was made; student protesters were met with guns and gas from the police despite the protests themselves are peaceful.

The 24th Annual Miss Universe Pageant saw 71 delegates competing for the crown. This is also the first time we see the delegates of Belize, Mauritius, and two American territories of Micronesia (which later on competed as the Northern Marianas in the following year) and American Samoa. The venue is the Gimnasio Nacional José Adolfo Pineda in San Salvador, with a capacity of around 12,500 spectators, which usually also hosted local basketball and other indoor sporting events. This is also the third time that the reigning queen didn’t crown her successor because of the resignation of Amparo Muñoz of Spain in just 6 months of her reign.

We also see notable historic moments of each delegate. 

Miss Haiti, Gerthie David, became the second woman from her country to place in the semifinals, and with the placement of 1st Runner-Up, she achieved the highest placement in history; and 42 years later, was followed by Raquel Pélissier in the 2016 edition with the same placement.

Miss El Salvador, the host delegate, became the first woman from her country to advance since 1955 when the country placed 1st Runner-Up. Since then, El Salvador hasn’t seen their first placement until 1995.

Miss Ireland, Julie Farnham, became the third from her country to place. Their recent placement during that time was back in 1967, when they were placed in the Top 15.

Miss Sweden, Catharina Sjödahl, become the second Swedish representative to be placed 3rd Runner-Up after Ingrid Norman of 1965.

Miss Philippines, Rose Brosas, not only gave her country the 4th year in the row of placement, she became the first to be placed as 4th Runner-Up. The Philippines had yet to see another 4th Runner-Up placement until 2010.


And now that you know about it, what do you think? Now that El Salvador will be hosting it in December of 2023, are we going to see another Salvadorian delegate to advance in 27 years or a Filipina representative to be placed as another 4th Runner-Up? Leave your thoughts below, and please be respectful with your words, because words can hurt you more than a stab of the sword.

Thank you so much for reading. God Bless.
Always be Beautifully Confident and Confidently Beautiful… with a Heart.