For many countries in the region, young women start competing for local titles like Miss Subway and Miss Trade Fair. Afterward, she can move on to the district title, such as Miss Miraflores, proceeding to city title, and then to provincial or state titles in her respective locality.

At this point, she is now viable for entry at the national competition. When the contender wins, she is expected to perform in regional pageants like Nuestra Belleza, Miss Hispanidad, Miss South America, and Miss Meso-America. Young women are now gaining more recognition at this level.

Winners of these pageants proceed to global contests like Miss Universe and Miss World.

In every Latin American country, however, there are different ways of organizing a pageant for young women. These are only some of the various traditions found in the region.


Argentina

In a nearby town from Buenos Aires, Chivilcoy banned beauty pageants. The town council has reportedly ended this tradition because of the growing obsession with physical beauty and the disorders that came with maintaining its standards like bulimia and anorexia.

"To qualify and organize a competition based on [beauty] is discriminatory and violent," local authorities said in a statement. The town has adopted a different approach to pageants; now, they are a competition to see how much each contestant has contributed to the community.


Bolivia

Bolivia has followed suit.  In Miss Cholita, the indigenous people of the nation's mountains hold a pageant for women celebrating the identity of La Paz "Chola." They wear embroidered shawls, long skirts, and hats.

Originally, "cholita" was used as a derogatory term for the Aymara women, but they have since reclaimed it into their culture.

The contestants must go through a series of traditional dances and answer questions by a jury before they choose a winner who best represents La Paz Chola.


Brazil

Like many other Latin American countries, a lot of beauty pageants involve candidates having to operate under plastic surgery. Brazil is no exception. For their Miss Bum Bum pageant, the criteria need only be the best derriere. The winner must gain the majority of the public vote.

Another beauty pageant in Brazil is the Gatas do Paulistão, a competition that celebrates the best-looking soccer fan.


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Meanwhile, in Colombia, there is a pageant called Miss Divi Divi that celebrates the versatility of young women. The divi-divi plant is known to be extremely resistant to hot climates.

The trend for plant-themed pageant continues with Miss Sugarcane, which celebrates the bountiful harvest of sugarcane in Cali, Colombia, while also commemorating the most beautiful Colombiana with the best knowledge about azucar.

In Ecuador, they hold a special kind of beauty pageant for banana-producing countries called the Reina Munidal del Banano, in commemoration of the popular yellow fruit.

Because countries Latin America are known for their enthusiastic participation in beauty pageants, there are schools for future contestants in Venezuela, where children as young as five years old go through training in hopes of becoming the next Miss Venezuela.

However, these schools have also been subject to irresponsible methods of producing what they consider to be young women who were beauty pageant material. Children are given hormones to induce growth spurts and slow down the aging process, and most of the young women are advised to go through plastic surgery, which costs thousands in the currency.