Courage and Grace —
The former Miss Universe, Stefania Fernandez, waved the free Venezuela flag in a sign of distress during her final catwalk at the Saturday pageant. The Chavez flag has 8 stars.
Godspeed, Stefania Fernandez.
Investor’s Business Daily reported:
Quick, what’s the murder capital of the world: Kabul? Juarez? Try Caracas, Venezuela, a city whose dictator, Hugo Chavez, has made murder a means of extending his control.
The silent protest at Monday night’s Miss Universe Pageant in Las Vegas was invisible to nearly everyone — except Venezuelans. On her final catwalk, the ranking Miss Universe, Stefania Fernandez, suddenly whipped out a Venezuelan flag in a patriotic but protocol-breaking gesture.
Fernandez waved her flag for the same reason Americans waved theirs after 9/11 — to convey resolution amid distress. Her flag had seven stars, significant because Chavez had arbitrarily added an eighth, making any use of a difficult-to-find seven-star banner an act of defiance.
Fernandez’s countrymen went wild with joy on bulletin boards and Facebook, showing just how worried they are about their country. Their greatest fear is violent crime.
Power Line notes that the previous Miss Universe was also from Venezuela and was also openly anti-Chavez.