Meet Miss Venezuela, originally a Syrian from the city of Tartous

Venezuela crowned its beauty queen last week, and it has been revealed that she originally hails from Syria's port city of Tartous.

Mariam Habach Santucci was crowned on Thursday in a beauty pageant held in Caracas.

The 19-year-old, who will represent Venezuela in the Miss Universe pageant next year, is a dentistry student at the José Antonio Páez University. Her father Antonois Habach is an immigrant from the town of al-Kharybat in Tartous where she briefly lived during her childhood years.

Habach, at a height is 180 cm, represented the state of Lara and was crowned Miss Venezuela from among 24 contestants.

Her mother Pasqualina Santucci is Italian, whose family immigrated to Venezuela from Italy's Avellino during World War II.

Habach, who is fluent in Arabic, Italian and Spanish, was born in El Tocuyo in the state of Lara. However she lives in Valencia in the Carabobo State with her family. She has visited Syria once since she left it seven years ago.

According to Venezuelan media reports, Habach has always had a penchant for beauty pageants. She won a primary school pageant in the district where lived at the age of 13.

This article is available in Arabic.