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- Miami Herald
Miss Universe Cuba pageant to be held in Hialeah — and you can go for free
The Miss Universe Cuba 2025 pageant will be held on July 8 at Milander Park in Hialeah in a grand ceremony where a new queen will be chosen to represent Cubans at Miss Universe.
Marianela Ancheta, Miss Universe Cuba 2024, will present the crown to the young woman chosen among the 17 candidates to participate in the international pageant on Nov. 21 in Thailand.
Miss Universe Cuba will be broadcast from 7 to 9 p.m. on Mega TV and on the Miss Universe Cuba YouTube channel, where the public can peruse videos about each of the candidates. Free tickets are available for anyone who wants to attend, as well as paid tickets for the VIP area.
Venezuelan designer Prince Julio César, director of Miss Universe Cuba, announced that it will be 'a quality show with impeccable production in which the candidates and our outgoing queen are the stars.'
The host will be Puerto Rican TV presenter Carlos Adyan, part of the 'En Casa con Telemundo' team, who recently hosted the Miss Peru 2025 contest for the second consecutive year, where Marianela Ancheta served as a part of the jury.
Miss Universe Cuba 2025 will also be the queen of the city of Hialeah, said César, indicating that the winner will participate in the events celebrating the city's centennial.
This year, several Miss Universe contestants will be chosen in Miami. Miss Nicaragua's pageant takes place in Miami, as well as Miss Universe Latina, a reality show on Telemundo where where a young woman of Latin origin from the United States will be chosen to participate in Thailand.
Miss Universe Cuba 2025 Candidates
The process of selecting the Miss Universe Cuba contestants began in January, and has been more 'relaxed,' said César, because they had more time. Last year's pageant came together in only a few months because César was awarded the rights to run Miss Universe Cuba in late April of 2024.
'There's no less pressure, because the day I stop feeling the pressure, I stop feeling the commitment,' said César.
Among this year's 17 candidates, who each represent the region of Cuba where they were born or to which they have ties, is Lina Luaces, a 21-year-old model born in Miami who is the daughter of Univision presenter Lili Estefan.
Lina represents Santiago de Cuba, the place where her uncle, Emilio Estefan, was born, and where the first Miss Cuba, Gladys López, who represented the country at Miss Universe in 1952, was from.
'I understood that with love, discipline, responsibility, and above all, resilience, you begin to achieve your goals. I understood that exercise and training have to be part of my life,' Lina said on her Instagram profile about the preparation for becoming a queen. She changed her hair color and learned to appreciate the importance of makeup, although she confessed, 'I have not been a woman who wears a lot of makeup.'
Mia Donadio Cancio, who represents the Isle of Youth, is a Florida International University (FIU) graduate with a degree in International Relations who, from the outset, expressed her desire to speak out against the situation Cubans face on the island.
'I don't want to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but the one who says it the loudest: I want to tell you what's happening in Cuba,' she wrote on her Instagram profile when she learned she was selected for Miss Universe Cuba.
Donadio was among those who received the most votes from the public for her presentation video, along with Lianet Aguilera Sarmiento (Holguín); Lina Luaces; Deneb Morales (Villa Clara) and Sheila Laza (Central Region).
Laza acknowledged that the biggest challenge for her in the preparation having to lose more than 20 pounds, and to do so she stopped eating carbohydrates completely, and as a Caribbean woman, she missed rice a lot, she said.
With experience in beauty pageants in Houston, where she settled with her family upon arriving from Cuba at age 13, Laza feels very comfortable on the catwalk and speaking in front of crowds.
'My mission is to amplify the voices of a Cuban people who have been silenced for years by the doctrines of a dictatorship,' she said. 'Many young people like me have their wings clipped; they can't dream,' she said.
Laza, who competed in Nuestra Belleza Latina in 2018, when Venezuelan Migbelis Castellanos won, wants to use her platform to bring attention to environmental issues, particularly reforestation.
'I would like to be an example of success and inspiration for young Cuban women and show that beauty, intelligence, talent, and determination can open many doors,' Laza said.
The rest of the contestants are Romy Caridad Alvarez (Camagüey); Ariday Villar (Ciego de Avila); Emely Artabe (Cienfuegos); Katy Nuñez Diaz (Granma); Mary Rodriguez (Guantanamo); Indiana Williams (Havana); Claudia Fernandez Acebo (Matanzas); Anabella Urquiola (Mayabeque); Lisbeth Fernandez (Pinar del Rio); Glenda Verdecia (Western Region); Vanessa Villareal (Eastern Region) and Stefany Parli (Sancti Spiritus).
Outgoing queen
As her reign as Miss Universe Cuba comes to a close, Ancheta reflected on the past year.
'We've tried to be involved in everything, to spread the word about Cuba everywhere,' Ancheta told el Nuevo Herald. 'I feel that one of the most important things about all this is that Cuban girls and women are seeing this new dream, this new life that Cuban women can have.'
'This is one of the years in which I have grown the most in my entire life. It was full of learning, and I have met wonderful people,' Ancheta said of her reign.
Miss Universe Cuba 2024 modeled for designer Giannina Azar during Miami Fashion Week in November, and participated in the video for 'La guagua,' from Gente de Zona's new album about the most popular musical genre on the island, el reparto.
Ancheta notes that her life has changed, and now she doesn't feel comfortable going out without looking her best. At the same time, she's happy to chat with people on the street and is always up for a photo, even if they catch her in the middle of a dinner party.
When she says goodbye to the crown, she plans to work toward her dream of working in television. She's also continuing to develop her skincare line, Arma Face Skincare, and wants to connect models and influencers with renowned brands through her own fashion and beauty-related advertising project.
General admission to Miss Universe Cuba is free, but VIP tickets can be purchased at and you can also enter a raffle for two tickets on the Miss Universe Cuba Instagram profile.
