Sheynnis Palacios: The Most Traveled Miss Universe Who Hasn’t Returned to Her Native Nicaragua

Miss Universe, the Nicaraguan Sheynnis Palacios, will turn over her crown to the new Miss Universe on November 16, 2024. During her reign she visited at least 31 countries, becoming the most traveled international beauty queen ever. However, she is also the only Miss Universe who did not return to her country of origin to celebrate her victory.

During her reign, Palacios, 24, received constant questions about when she would visit Nicaragua. She always insisted that she was “preparing” for it, but her return never materialized.

Over the last ten years of Miss Universe, the winner who took the most time to return to her country was South Africa's Zozibini Tunzi, who was crowned in 2019 and returned to South Africa in September 2020. The delay was caused by the global suspension of flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

31 countries and Nicaragua was never on the list

The year of Sheynnis Palacios' reign was characterized as “successful” because of her visits to so many countries that participate in the Miss Universe contest, a sign of the interest generated by the Miss Universe brand during the year.

Palacios visited countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa. In total, she went to 31 countries, including: United States, Mexico, Indonesia, Qatar, Brazil, Costa Rica, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China, Philippines, India, Albania, France, Greece, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nepal, Peru, Monaco, Jamaica and Bolivia.

When Palacios visited the Central American countries of Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and El Salvador –where she was crowned– expectations were high for her return to Nicaragua. But her reign ended and the closest she came to celebrating with Nicaraguans was during the welcome events organized by Nicaraguan migrants abroad.

In each place, Sheynnis Palacios' mission was the same: to promote the culture, beauty and tourist attractions in each country. In most countries she donned their traditional dress and wore pieces woven by local artisans, and she met wildlife and visited sacred sites, sharing it all on social networks.

Palacios’ activities included bowing to the “Ko Mueang Phet” buffalo in Thailand, the largest and most valuable breed of Thai water buffalo in the world. She also posed with a cheetah in a rescue program in Zimbabwe, and she wore a Lehenga, a “gala” dress in India.

Miss Nicaragua, an outlawed beauty pageant

The triumph of Sheynnis Palacios as Miss Universe 2023 –and its celebration in Nicaragua– were interpreted by the Ortega dictatorship as a “destructive coup” attempt.

“We see the gross exploitation, and the crude and evil terrorist communication, which aims to turn a nice and deserved moment of pride and celebration, into a destructive coup, or a return –of course impossible– to the nefarious practices, selfish and criminal, of those who, like vampires and profiteers, have used the people,” said the vice president and spokeswoman of the dictatorship, Rosario Murillo, after Sheynnis Palacios’ win.

Thousands of Nicaraguan citizens celebrated Miss Universe's triumph by waving the blue and white national flag, which the dictatorship criminalized as a “symbol of protest” during the civic protests of the April Rebellion of 2018.

Rosario Murillo's words were the prelude to the criminalization of the Miss Nicaragua franchise and also led to the imprisonment and banishment of several Nicaraguans.

A week after the Miss Universe coronation, the dictatorship launched a police harassment campaign against the director of Miss Nicaragua, Karen Celebertti and her family, to silence the spontaneous celebration of the population. 

Celebertti, owner of the Miss Universe franchise in Nicaragua since 2001, was banished from Nicaragua by the regime when she and her daughter, Luciana Arguello, were returning from Mexico after participating in activities related to the international pageant. Upon arriving at the Managua airport, they were deported and forced to take a flight back to Mexico. 

Soon after, agents and riot police surrounded Celebertti's home in Managua, where her husband Martín Argüello Leiva and her son Bernardo Argüello Celebertti were held captive for several days by the police.

Celebertti, along with her husband and son, were accused by the police of allegedly conspiring against the “homeland” and carrying out acts related to “financing terrorism.”

According to the Police, since 2018, Karen Celebertti, Martín Arguello and Bernardo Arguello Celebertti had “actively participated in the streets and on social media in the terrorist actions of the failed coup attempt,” accusing them in the language used by the dictatorship to refer to the citizen protests that broke out in April 2018.

Nicaraguans arrested for celebrating Sheynnis Palacios

At least four Nicaraguans were arrested and detained for celebrating the triumph of Miss Universe 2023. Among those imprisoned –and now banished to Guatemala– were Jared Ramirez, Kevin Laguna, Oscar Parrilla, and Cristobal Geovany Lopez.

Jared Ramirez is one of the thousands of citizens who took to the streets in Managua to celebrate the Miss Universe crown. He was arrested for carrying his blue and white flag, which had “No more dictatorship” written on it. 

The artists Kevin Laguna, known as “Vink,” and Oscar Parrilla, known as “Torch Místico,” were both arrested for starting to paint a mural in honor of Sheynnis Palacios' victory on a street in Estelí. 

The TikToker Cristobal Geovany Lopez, also known as “Tropi Gamer” or “Tropi Kong”, was arrested for his social media posts defending Sheynnis Palacios against the attacks made by pro-government media.

Nicaragua, after winning its first international crown

In December of 2023, Celebertti announced her retirement as director of the Miss Nicaragua organization. In a statement, published on her social media accounts, Celebertti highlighted her journey with Miss Nicaragua over more than two decades, extolling the name of her country “without any type of bias.”

“Miss Nicaragua always grew as an organization clean of political roots, without discriminating by race, religion or geographic region,” said Celebertti. “This year we got the Miss Universe crown, the first from Nicaragua, the first from Central America. With great pride and effort Sheynnis achieved this for all Nicaraguans without distinction or differences, just the joy of a single sentiment,” she wrote. 

Anne Jakrajutatip, the director and owner of the Miss Universe organization, sympathized with Celebertti's situation and highlighted her work, particularly Palacios' triumph. “Your true calling is to make women's dreams come true by empowering and enabling them to shine on the Miss Universe stage. I am so proud of you, Karen,” she posted on her social media accounts. 

Celebertti and her daughter were hired by the international Miss Universe organization.

In April 2024, the Ortega-Murillo regime launched its own national beauty contest called “Reinas Nicaragua,” in which the winner would “internationally represent” the country as “an ambassador of love for Nicaragua,” according to pro-government media. The contest was held in September 2024, although it is unknown in which contests the organization will participate and represent the country.

The exile of Sheynnis Palacios and her family 

In May 2024, Jakrajutatip stated on her social media that Sheynnis Palacios had been exiled “indefinitely” from her country.

In her post, on the occasion of Mother's Day in the United States, Jakrajutatip highlighted Palacios’ human qualities and her strength and dedication in taking care of her mother and her entire family, who are also “outside the country.”

The Thai businesswoman also referred to Palacios as “the butterfly with broken wings, who never gave in to the ill-gotten, disrespectful and cruel intention of any authoritarian.”

Hours later, Jakrajutatip edited her post and left only a text that read, “You are brave, strong and smart, but at the same time very humble and hardworking in taking care of your mom and the whole family.”

In the days prior to the post there had been talk on social media that Palacios' grandmother and brother had left Nicaragua to join her “through the humanitarian parole program.” Similarly, Sheynnis Palacios has shared on her social media accounts photographs where she is reunited with her entire family in the United States.

Sheynnis Palacios crowns her Nicaraguan successor in Mexico

At the beginning of October 2024, in a small room at the Miss Universe headquarters in Mexico, Sheynnis Palacios presented the official crown and sash of Miss Nicaragua to the young Geyssel García. 

Garcia was designated as the representative of Nicaragua in Miss Universe by the Miss Nicaragua franchise, which is now owned by the Miss Universe organization itself. This is the first time that a Nicaraguan candidate is not chosen in a contest, and her preparation for the world competition has been in Mexico.

García has a degree in Tourism and Hotel Administration. She was the administrator of the Selva Azul Hotel, a family business located at the Laguna de Apoyo in Masaya. In addition, she has participated in the two most important beauty pageants in the country: Miss World and Miss Nicaragua.

Sheynnis Palacios leaves a legacy “to girls all over the world”

“This crown is dedicated to the girls all over the world, to my inner child, to my family, and to the more than six million inhabitants of my country,” were the first words Palacios said as Miss Universe at a press conference.

The young Nicaraguan has used Miss Universe as a platform for women's –and particularly girls’-- empowerment, as so many girls have seen “an example to follow” in Sheynnis Palacios.

The beauty queen's story reflects the story of many girls who grew up with limited economic resources, who have suffered bullying, and who suffer from insecurities. Sheynnis Palacios comes from a humble family, who during challenging times, supported themselves by preparing and selling Nicaraguan food and desserts.

Palacios said that she used to make and sell sweet fritters called buñuelos to pay for her family's expenses. She says that even with the economic hardships, her mother's entire family supported her to fulfill her dream of one day being Miss Universe.

Palacios began having episodes of anxiety in college as a result of the bullying she received for selling buñuelos. She was diagnosed with “anxiety” and “panic attacks,” and then became a mental health advocate. 

“My hands would sweat profusely, I would start wanting to scratch. My anxiety attacks got to the point of me pulling my hair out. I would bury my fingernails in my palms to feel pain and draw myself into that pain, but it didn't help,” Palacios confessed during an interview for the Spanish-language version of People magazine.

In her most recent interviews, Palacios has mentioned that her plans, after handing over the crown to her successor, are always in the communications field.  She wants to be a TV host, model or actress. In October 2024, she temporarily joined the team of “La Mesa Caliente”, a showbiz and celebrity TV show on Telemundo in the United States.

During a photo shoot, Palacios was asked about her future and the possibility of being part of the cast of the Telemundo show. She answered: “Well, probably.”

Palacios is also working on an autobiographical book where she describes her path to the crown and her reign. It will be a book in which she will tell the story of the day she returns to Nicaragua to celebrate the crown she wore in the name of her country. 

This article was published in Spanish in Confidencial and translated by our staff. To get the most relevant news from our English coverage delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe to The Dispatch.