The Spanish designer Elena Tablada is seeking to represent Cuba in Miss Universe in 2024, just as the island returns to the international competition after several decades.
The ex-partner of the popular singer David Bisbal and mother of his eldest daughter was born in Madrid to Cuban parents, and has always boasted about her ties to the land of her ancestors.
At 43 years old, she admits that she never thought they would call her when she entered the contest, since besides her age, she is "very out of the standards of this type of beauty pageant."
"I wouldn't have imagined it myself, but my family in Miami, who has a lot of hope in me, encouraged me," he revealed to the program Fiesta on Telecinco channel.
The businesswoman also acknowledges that she does not meet the standards required by beauty pageants, "but I was told that those parameters had changed and that what they were looking for was a person who was Cuban, with Cuban parents."
Although she was not born in Cuba, she claims to feel "very, very Cuban" and that despite her physical appearance playing against her, she has things to contribute, such as life experience as a mother of two daughters. "The years have helped me mature," she said.
Miss Universe Cuba will take place on September 15 in Miami. At the moment, there are 95 pre-selected candidates who have already completed their virtual and in-person casting. In the end, only 20 will remain.
Cuba is participating again after 57 years of absence, following a comment by the new owner of the contest, Anne Jakrajutatip from Thailand, expressing her interest in visiting the island and leaving the door open for Cuban women to compete in the pageant again.
"We want Cubans inside and outside the country to feel even more connected to their land, to respect and preserve it every day, and to identify with the real social causes of the city and the country, under the standards of freedom and participatory democracy," announced the Instagram profile of Miss Universe Cuba.
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