MIAMI - Ecuador’s Sandra Vinces, 19, and Iceland’s Ingibjorg Egilsdottir, 24, are early favorites on Facebook and other social networking sites ahead of Sunday’s Miss Universe contest.

Eighty-four contestants will parade in swimwear for the judges who this
year include actors, TV producers, photographers, fashion critics and vintage
supermodel Valeria Mazza.

In the run-up to the big event at the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island,
Panama’s Diana Broce won the prize for best national costume.

And the contest actually sparked a diplomatic kerfuffle.

Bolivia’s culture minister was outraged when Miss Peru Karen Schwarz wore a
typical costume known as a “Diablada,” saying it was a symbol of his country –
and not Peru.

The costume is worn during Bolivia’s Oruro Carnival, a UNESCO-honoured cultural event. The term Diablada also refers to a typical dance of Aymara indigenous people, who live in Peru, Chile and Bolivia.

With a worldwide audience and a particularly rapt following in Latin America, the Miss Universe contest airs on NBC television on Sunday, 23 August 2009.