Miss Universe Nicaraguan Sheynnis Palacios arrives in Guatemala acclaimed by her countrymen

After winning the beauty pageant, Palacio has not returned to Nicaragua / Photo: Courtesy

Nicaraguan Miss Universe Sheynnis Palacios arrived in Guatemala on Friday night for a multi-day visit, cheered upon her arrival by some 150 people, many of them compatriots of the beauty queen.

“I am very happy to be in the country of eternal spring,” Palacios told local media following landing in Guatemala City.

“I’ve never been to Guatemala before, but I know it won’t be the last time,” added the winner of last year’s popular beauty pageant.

Palacios will be present on Sunday at the election of Guatemala’s representative for the 2024 edition of Miss Universe, in a local competition that will take place in Antigua, regarding 50 kilometers west of the country’s capital.

Around 150 people, many of them Nicaraguans living in Guatemala, gathered at La Aurora International Airport on Friday night to await Palacios’ arrival.

After landing in Guatemala, Palacios was greeted and welcomed at the airport by the current Miss Universe of Guatemala, Michelle Cohn.

The 24-year-old beauty queen, who has not returned to Nicaragua since her victory, has visited San José, Costa Rica, and Miami, United States, as well as the Dominican Republic, among other countries, in recent months.

Sheynnis Palacios is the first Nicaraguan and Central American to win Miss Universe, whose 2023 edition was held on November 18 in El Salvador.

The beauty queen lives in New York to attend to her commitments with the international franchise and for now she has no date to return to Nicaragua.

The Miss Nicaragua team is going through a difficult time in their country following the former director of the organization, Karen Celebertti, was exiled by the government headed by Daniel Ortega and accused of the crimes of conspiracy and treason.

Guatemala / EFE