Government of Sint Maarten does not endorse alleged representative of Sint Maarten participating at the 70th Miss World Festival
The Government of Sint Maarten hereby makes it known that it does not endorse nor support the participation of Ms. Lara Mateo at the 70th Miss World Festival which began on November 21st and ends on December 16th in Puerto Rico.
Upon investigation of the circumstances surrounding the selection of Ms. Lara Mateo as representative of Sint Maarten at the Miss World, it is clear that no Government Ministry nor Department was involved in or requested to give input in this matter as required.
The processing and selection of a potential candidate for such an international pageant are customarily held by a private organization that holds the pageant license. Under normal circumstances, the license holder usually seeks the endorsement and or support of the Government of Sint Maarten prior to attending such an international event. In this instance, it has been ascertained that the license holder was not consulted and was not involved in the process of identifying nor sending Ms. Mateo to compete in the Miss World pageant scheduled to take place this week.
The Government of Sint Maarten has dispatched a letter to Miss World Limited to unequivocally denounce the participation of Ms. Mateo as no endorsement of this candidate has taken place and questions the vetting process of the organization. Government intends to implement and publicize the necessary policies that will ensure all intended participants attending international events representing Sint Maarten have the required endorsement prior to embarking on such a journey to prevent such an incident from happening in the future.
