Nicaragua’s dictator goes after Miss Universe

Few people would perceive a 23-year-old bikini and ball-gown model as a political menace. Yet the crowning of Sheynnis Palacios, a Nicaraguan beauty queen, as Miss Universe in November ruffled the feathers of the country’s dictatorial duumvirate. On December 1st Nicaraguan police accused Karen Celebertti, the organiser of the local franchise of Miss Universe, of having incited and financed terrorist actions and of having conspired in a foreign-backed plot to overthrow the government (she, of course, denies such absurd allegations). Ms Celebertti was barred from returning to Nicaragua after the competition, which was held in El Salvador. Her husband and son have since been arrested.