Miss Universe celebrates historic win in Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela — The newly crowned Miss Universe returned to her native Venezuela on Saturday to celebrate her historic selection, saying the nation would go for its third consecutive win at next year’s pageant.

Stefania Fernandez, 18, was welcomed at the airport with a red carpet and flowers.

“Nothing is impossible, Venezuela!” she said, stepping off the plane in a blue dress and sparkling crown.

Fernandez’s win last month made Venezuela the first country to claim the title two years in a row, after Dayana Mendoza was crowned in 2008.

Fernandez, who is the sixth Miss Universe from this beauty-obsessed South American nation, will pass along her national crown to the new Miss Venezuela to be picked at a pageant Thursday.

She said she hopes her successor as Miss Venezuela will capture a third consecutive win for their country. “Next year, we’re going for the triplet,” she told reporters.

Fernandez will spend the next year traveling the world as an ambassador for the Miss Universe pageant, lending her celebrity to causes such as AIDS awareness. She will also study English and French.

Asked what she would say to Colombian rocker Juanes regarding his controversial “Peace Without Borders” concert in Havana on Sunday, Fernandez said she believes that musicians, like beauty queens, “are always here to unite, not to create one more problem in the world.”

Sunday’s concert has drawn criticism in the Cuban-American exile community, where many complain Juanes is endorsing the island’s communist system. Organizers insist the show has no ideological overtones.