Miss Latin America 2006

Miss América Latina 2006 was the twentieth international edition of the Miss América Latina contest, and the twenty-second overall. The final event was held on June 28, 2006 in Riviera Maya, Mexico. At the conclusion of the pageant, Melissa Quesada of the United States was crowned by outgoing titleholder, Mariela Candia of Paraguay^[1].

Results

Final Results	Contestant
Miss América Latina 2006	USA - Melissa Quesada
1st runner-up	Canary Islands - Neólida Hernández
2nd runner-up	Nicaragua - Xiomara Blandino
3rd runner-up	Guatemala - Catherine Gregg
4th runner-up	Brazil - Geise Pousa
Semi-finalists (in order of placement)	Dominican Republic - Elisa Abreu  Honduras - Lissa Saenz  Catalonia - Silvia Massó  Paraguay - Liz Cardozo  Puerto Rico - Libni García  Spain - Esther Pérez  Mexico - Arianna Ramírez

Contestants^[2]

Argentina - Yanina Mayor  Belize - Vanessa Chan  Bolivia - Mariela Flores  Brazil - Geise Pousa  Canary Islands - Neólida Hernández  Catalonia - Silvia Massó  Dominican Republic - Elisa Abreu  Ecuador - Karla Milán  Guatemala - Catherine Gregg  Holland - Mary-Grace van Leeuwen  Honduras - Lissa Saenz  Mexico - Arianna Ramírez

Nicaragua - Xiomara Blandino  Panama - Mayela Alzamora  Paraguay - Liz Cardozo  Peru - Milagros Ruiz  Portugal - Sandra di Novi  Puerto Rico - Libni García  Spain - Esther Pérez  Switzerland - Cinzia Bongiovanni  Uruguay - Paola Fros  USA - Melissa Quesada  Venezuela - Mereille Segovia

National Notes

Debuts

Canary Islands  Catalonia

Holland  Switzerland

Returning territories

Last competed in 2000:  Belize

Last competed in 2003:  Spain

Last competed in 2004:  Argentina  Honduras  Portugal

Withdraws

Canada  Colombia  Costa Rica

Germany  Italy  United Kingdom

Historical significance

• USA earned its first international victory. The first two Miss Latin America titleholders, from 1981 and 1982, were both from the USA but both pageants were not international competitions.
• Canary Islands and Catalonia both placed for the first time.
• Canary Islands earned its highest placement ever.
• Nicaragua matched its highest placement (second runner-up) since winning in 1992.
• Brazil placed for the sixth consecutive time, tying Brazil with Colombia for the longest placement streak.
• Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and the USA also placed in 2005.
• Honduras last placed in 2000, when Dania Prince won.
• Guatemala and Nicaragua last placed in 2002.
• Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico last placed in 2004. Puerto Rico's Gamalis Fermín had been the winner.
• This year saw a change in format to calling out 12 semifinalists, the most semifinalists called out in the history of the pageant. This format would be repeated from 2008 onward.
• This was the only pageant, as of 2011, that Costa Rica did not attend.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]