She wants to be a singer

Vega, 6’1” is the niece of famed merengue singer Juan Luis Guerra. She said she too hopes to be a singer. In an entry statement to the organising committee, she said that “music is a direct way to communicate with all the people without any race or ideological differences.”

The first runner up was Miss Venezuela, the Cinderella of the contest: 22-year-old Mariangel Ruiz almost couldn’t come to the competition because of financial problems in her home country.  A donor finally turned up to meet the costs of her trip. Second-runner up was South Africa’s Cindy Nell, 21, a tourism promoter. Miss Serbia and Montenegro, Sanja Papic, was third runner up and Miss Japan, Miyako Miyzaki, was fourth. “I am excited and anxious. I have been preparing for this for ten  months,” Vega said before the contest. Kai Davis of Antigua and Barbuda was named Miss Congeniality. Miss Puerto Rico, Carla Tricoli, was named Miss Photogenic. The event gave Panama a few minutes of prime time to promote itself as a new tourist destination after decades of living under the shadow of the US military, which left the country and handed over the canal on December 31, 1999.