In Venezuela, beauty offers an escape from poverty

AT a small home with a leaking tin roof near Venezuela’s capital, Johandrys Colls proudly shows off two metal crowns with plastic gemstones and nine satin sashes won in local beauty pageants.

The 16-year-old daughter of a butcher and a teacher is pinning her hopes for a future free of poverty on a single goal: rising through the world of pageants and becoming an international beauty queen.

“These sashes represent a huge accomplishment for me,” said the skinny teen with dark brown eyes as she pushes her long black hair from one side to another.

While growing concern about sexism and the rise of the #MeToo movement recently led the Miss America contest to drop swimsuit competitions, in Latin America young women continue to flock to competitions where good looks are unabashedly championed above all else.

In Venezuela, competing comes at a high price: Elaborate sequined gowns and pricey cosmetic surgeries are out of reach for most in a country where inflation is running at five digits and state workers earn about US$3 a month. This year, the Miss Venezuela pageant was rocked by accusations that some contenders finance their dreams by finding wealthy men to pay for gowns and surgeries in exchange for sex.

But even alarming charges like those have done little to deter young women like Colls, whose parents have enrolled her in one of Venezuela’s top modeling schools despite their modest income.

After oil, beauty queens may be Venezuela’s biggest export: Women from the South American nation have captured seven Miss Universe titles and crown holders have gone on to notable careers as actresses, journalists and even presidential candidates.

As the nation plummets into economic ruin, even more young women are holding fast to dreams of becoming beauty queens.

In Venezuela, one man has ruled as king in transforming fledgling ingenues into flawless beauty queens: Osmel Sousa.

The so-called “Czar of Beauty” led the Miss Venezuela pageant for nearly four decades before leaving the organization in February as accusations spread on social media that organizers had arranged for some contestants to work as escorts for high-ranking government officials in exchange for glimmering jewels, elegant gowns and cosmetic surgeries.

The Miss Venezuela contest suspended operations amid the outcry.

Sousa has denied any wrongdoing. Still, multiple women have come forward to say that finding a well-off man to back their pageant aspirations has long been a common practice.