Miss Latina US, formerly known as Miss Latina USA, is an American beauty pageant exclusively for Latina women in the United States. It is open to those born in Latin American or Iberian countries, or descended from them. Titles are available for all states, but typically those with larger Latin populations compete every year (such as Texas, California, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada, etc.). Women may also represent their country of birth or those of their parents or grandparents. It was held for the first time as an official national preliminary to the Miss Latin America pageant in 1986. It is also a sister pageant to the Miss Teen US Latina pageant. All three pageants are owned and operated by Miss Latin America Organization, similar to the way the Miss Universe Organization operates the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants.
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The current titleholder is Sasha Zacarias of New York.
History
Originally, the Miss Latin America pageant was founded to provide scholarships for Latin American women living in the Miami, Florida region. Only five women participated in the original pageant, held in 1981. In 1982, the number expanded. In 1983, it went international, but individual states were represented at that pageant. As a matter of fact, Cira Sanchez of Texas was the second runner-up, while the representatives from Florida, Arizona and California were top ten finalists (Nevada also competed.) In 1984, ten state representatives participated at the Miss Latin America 1984 pageant, held in Miami Beach, with Florida's representative, Yolanda Fernandez, placing as the first runner-up to Venezuela's Mirla Ochoa. Florida again placed as first runner-up in 1985, and Arizona was third runner-up. In 1986, a separate pageant was founded, the Miss Latina USA contest. The winner went on to represent the United States at Miss Latin America. This has happened every year since. In 2001, as per agreement with the Miss Universe Organization, who owns the rights to the Miss USA title, the pageant changed its name from Miss Latina USA to Miss Latina US. Additionally, Miss Latin America became post-dated in 1999, changing the contest from Miss Latin America 1999 to Miss Latin America 2000. However, Miss Latina US had not, so Miss Latina USA 1999 went to Miss Latin America 2000. This was corrected in 2008, when the Miss Latina US Pageant held in September 2008 was post-dated and became Miss Latina US 2009, with the winner competing at Miss Latin America 2009. The international pageant was renamed Miss Latin America of the World in 2008 because of the rule changes allowing participation of Latin heritage delegates from around the globe that had begun in 2002.
Miss Latina US 2014
The Miss Latina US 2014 contest was held August 31, 2012 in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Dominican-born Sasha Zacarias of New York was crowned Miss Latina US 2012 by outgoing titleholder Marice Morales of Utah. The runners-up were Ivet Garcia (Minnesota), Leyla Dabdoub (US-Mexico), Ana Valencia (California) and Izabelle Streetmaker (Oklahoma).