Nicaraguan police said on Friday they wanted to arrest the director of the Miss Nicaragua pageant, accusing him of intentionally rigging the pageant so that an anti-government beauty pageant would win the pageant as part of a plot to overthrow the government.
The allegations against pageant director Karen Celebertti wouldn’t be out of place in a vintage James Bond movie with oppressive, closed governments, alleged coups, foreign agents and beauty queens.
It all started on November 18, when Miss Nicaragua, Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua won the Miss Universe pageant.
President Daniel Ortega’s government briefly considered it had scored a rare public relations victory, calling it a victory of “legitimate joy and pride.”
But the tone quickly soured a day after the victory when it emerged that Palacios had posted a photo of himself on Facebook taking part in one of the massive anti-government protests of 2018.
The protests were violently suppressed, and human rights officials said 355 people were killed by government forces.
Accusations against pageant director Karen Celebertti wouldn’t be out of place in a vintage James Bond movie with suppression. karencelebretti/Instagram
Ortega claimed the protests were a foreign-backed coup attempt, aimed at ousting him. His detractors say Nicaraguans are protesting his increasingly oppressive rule and seemingly endless push for power.
A statement by the National Police alleged that Celebertti “actively participated, on the internet and in the streets, in the terrorist acts of the failed coup,” an apparent reference to the 2018 protests.
Celebertti appears to have escaped police custody after he was reportedly denied entry into the country a few days ago.
But some local media reported that her son and her husband had been detained.
Newly crowned Miss Universe Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua waves after winning the 72nd Miss Universe pageant on November 18, 2023. AFP via Getty Images
Celebertti, her husband and son face charges of “treason.” They have not spoken publicly about the charges against them.
Celebertti “remained in contact with traitors, and offered to use franchises, platforms and spaces supposedly used to promote ‘innocent’ beauty pageants, in a conspiracy designed to turn pageants into traps and political ambushes funded by foreign agents,” according to statement.
It didn’t help that many ordinary Nicaraguans – who are largely banned from protesting or carrying the national flag in parades – took advantage of the Miss Universe win as a rare opportunity to celebrate in the streets.
Celebertti “remained in contact with traitors, and offered to use franchises, platforms and spaces supposedly used to promote ‘innocent’ beauty pageants, in a conspiracy designed to turn pageants into political traps and ambushes funded by foreign agents.” karencelebretti/Instagram
Their use of the blue-white national flag, as opposed to Ortega’s red-black Sandinista banner, further angered the government, which claimed the planners “will take to the streets again in December, in a repeat of the worst chapter in history.” vile.”
Just five days after Palacio’s victory, Vice President and First Lady Rosario Murillo lashed out at opposition social media sites (many fleeing exile) that celebrated Palacios’ victory as a victory for the opposition.
“In these new days of victory, we see evil commentators, terrorists making a clumsy and insulting attempt to turn what should have been a beautiful moment of pride into a destructive coup,” Murillo said.
The Ortega government seized and closed the Jesuit University of Central America in Nicaragua, which was a hub for the 2018 protests against the Ortega regime, along with at least 26 other Nicaraguan universities.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo wave during a parade for the 202nd anniversary of the signing of the Central American Independence Act on September 14, 2023. Nicaraguan Presidency/AFP via Getty Images
The government has also banned or closed more than 3,000 civic groups and non-governmental organizations, arrested and deported dissidents, stripped them of their citizenship and confiscated their assets.
Thousands have fled into exile.
Palacios, who became the first Nicaraguan to win Miss Universe, did not comment on the situation.
During the competition, Palacios, 23, said she wanted to work to promote mental health after suffering debilitating anxiety attacks herself. She also said she wants to work to close the gender pay gap.
But the tone quickly soured a day after the victory when it emerged that Palacios had posted a photo of himself on Facebook taking part in one of the massive anti-government protests of 2018. AP
But on a deleted Facebook account under his name, Palacios posted a photo of himself at the protest, writing he was initially afraid to participate. “I don’t know if I want to go, I’m afraid of what might happen.”
Several people who attended the parade that day recalled seeing the tall, imposing Palacios there.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
