Lina Luaces, the 22-year-old girl who last July became Miss Cuba 2025 in a theater in Hialeah, this Thursday managed to include the island in the Top 12 of Miss Universe 2025.
Although she did not manage to advance to the Top 5, her classification improves Cuba’s place in its second consecutive participation in the contest with a representative chosen in Miami, after 57 years of absence.
At the event held at the Impact Challenger Hall in Bangkok, Thailand, the niece of Gloria and Emilio Estefan and daughter of Lili Estefan shone with a gala dress that paid tribute to the colors of the Cuban flag and answered confidently in the round of questions.
Thus, several media highlighted her time on the catwalk and the pride with which she carried the name of Cuba in a pageant in which the Mexican Fátima Bosch was crowned the new Miss Universe.
Just four months ago, at Milander Park in Hialeah, Lina received the crown from Marianela Ancheta—the Miss Cuba 2024 who opened the door last year—and promised to represent “a generation of Cubans who learned that education and effort are the most important letter of introduction that anyone can present.”
Then, the young woman said that she hoped to inspire the children of Cuba, Miami and the rest of the world to fight for what they want.
Lina Luaces, niece of the Estefans, is the new Miss Cuba chosen in Miami
Lina and her amulets in Thailand
Model with experience at New York Fashion Week and also winner of the Miss Press award at the Miami gala, Luaces arrived in Thailand with a clear message of resilience and hope.
Businessman Julio César Cruz, director of the franchise since 2024 and known as Prince Julio César, celebrated the result: “We are making history for the second time.”
Prior to the contest, Lina Luaces revealed that she took a couple of special objects given to her by her loved ones to Thailand for good luck.
“I have many Cuban amulets: I have my rosary, which obviously my grandmother brought me,” Luaces said for Miss Universe Cuba’s social networks.
Furthermore, as she said, she brought a stone just for the competition, a gift that her friend picked up on the soil of Santiago de Cuba.
In the 2024 edition, Marianela Ancheta, a model and businesswoman living in the United States who left Cuba at the age of 13, came in 30th place in the competition. Ancheta managed to place herself in the top 30 and be distinguished as “one of the most beautiful and talented women.”
Now, Lina Luaces has greatly improved that location.
The return of Cuba, but from Miami
Without wanting to delve into politics, the national director of Miss Cuba explained last year EFE that Miss Universe proposed that year a “new challenge” of having a representative from more than 120 countries, including Cuba, at the gala that took place in November in Mexico.
“Miss Universe was a 100% American company and by virtue of that, it was closed to possible transactions with Cuba, and there was no interest from any businessman in the United States who wanted to make Miss Cuba in exile towards Miss Universe,” he stressed then.
In his statements to the Spanish media, Prince Julio César attributed Cuba’s return to Miss Universe to a matter of “vision” of the organization.
“I believe that they are betting on inclusion from all points of view, much more from culture, and it has to do with this movement of female empowerment, not taking away or not allowing any woman, regardless of what is happening in her country, that she cannot be there,” she said.
However, César clarified that the Miss Universe organization, which is more than 60 years old, “is completely closed to making any transaction with the Cuban Government” and therefore, to include the island, he decided to “give it the opportunity,” but “from the city of Miami.”
