Mia Dio, Miss Universe Cuba 2026, unveiled her national costume for the international pageant this Friday, a monumental piece named "The Lady of Freedom" that transforms the runway into an act of political remembrance: every detail of the design pays tribute to the Damas de Blanco and the 75 dissidents imprisoned during the Black Spring of 2003.
"There are stories that should not be forgotten and women whose courage deserves to be remembered for generations," wrote the beauty queen as she unveiled the outfit on Instagram, where the video garnered nearly 9,000 reactions in just a few hours.
The design, created by Royer Pérez, is white with Baroque gold embroidery and incorporates precise and deliberate symbolism: 75 portraits of prisoners of conscience, 75 crystal tears that evoke the pain of separated families, white gladioli as a symbol of peaceful resistance, and four tocororos —the national bird of Cuba— representing the freedom longed for by the Cuban people.
On the back of the outfit is an image of the Church of Santa Rita de Casia in Havana, the place where the Ladies in White would gather before starting their Sunday marches. "A place that became a symbol of faith, perseverance, and hope," the candidate noted.
The phrase "We All March" is embroidered on the piece as a declaration of intergenerational solidarity.
"Today I carry their faces with me so that the universe can know their stories. Because behind every portrait there was a family that waited, and behind every gladiolus, a woman who refused to forget," Mia Dio expressed in her post.
Mia Dio, 25 years old, was born in Miami, is the daughter of a Cuban mother and an Argentine father, and is the granddaughter of José "Pepe" Cancio, a veteran of Brigade 2506 from the Bay of Pigs invasion. She was crowned Miss Universe Cuba 2026 on August 20 in Cutler Bay, Florida, representing Isla de la Juventud among 19 candidates.
Her connection with the Damas de Blanco is not new: months before winning the crown, she published a photo session in a white dress with gladioli as a tribute to the movement, and upon receiving the crown, she made an "L" with her fingers as a symbol of freedom.
The Miss Universe national costume parade is scheduled for November 21 at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico, with the final gala taking place on November 24 in San Juan.
The Damas de Blanco emerged in March 2003 when wives, mothers, and daughters of the 75 dissidents detained during the Black Spring began to march every Sunday dressed in white and carrying gladioli in their hands to demand the release of their relatives. The Cuban regime had sentenced these individuals—independent journalists, writers, librarians, and activists—to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years for peacefully exercising their freedom of expression.
In 2005, the European Parliament awarded them the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, although the Cuban authorities prevented them from traveling to accept it. They did not receive it in person until April 2013 in Brussels.
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