Caracas, Venezuela: Last week Venezuela crowned its beauty queen who happens to be originally from Syria.
The 19-year-old, Mariam Habach Santucci was crowned last week with a lot of fanfare. She will represent Venezuela in the Miss Universe pageant next year.
Her father Antonois Habach, is an immigrant from the town of al-Kharybat in Tartous, Syria where she spent her childhood years.
She is a dentistry student at the Jose Antonio Paez University. She represented the state of Lara and was crowned Miss Venezuela after beating 24 other contestants.
Her Italian mother Pasqualina Santucci, immigrated to Venezuela with her family from Italy’s Avellino during World War II.
Habach, was born in El Tocuyo in the State of Lara and is fluent in Arabic, Italian and Spanish.
She currently lives in Valencia in the Carabobo State with her family. She visited Syria once after her family left the country seven years ago.
According to Venezuelan media reports, she has a knack to win beauty pageants as she had won a primary school pageant at the age 13.
The 63rd Annual Miss Venezuela Pageant was held in Caracas.
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