Scandal Eclipsed Miss Guatemala Coronation Jennifer Chiong (also Miss Costa Maya 2008) Stripped off her Miss Guatemala TitleLourdes Figueroa, a 20-year old model and student from Guatemala City; and Angelica Guevara from San Marcos, were crowned Miss Guatemala Universe and Miss Guatemala World respectively during an event held at the Gran Tikal Futura Expocenter on May 25th.
But the event was affected by a major scandal: Jennifer Chiong (Miss Guatemala 2008) who had been dethroned last December - for her inability to perform her duties - showed up at the event, uninvited, wearing her sash and crown, and bringing an audio track with her "farewell speech".
Chiong interrupted the event when she took the stage by storm during the performance of musical guest Carlos Pe�a (winner of Latin American Idol 2007). The audience and guests could not understand what was happening, and pageant directors removed her from the stage.
Afterwards, a brawl took place inside the venue, where journalists filmed and photographed the whole ordeal. Chiong took the stage again and grabbed the microphone to try to discredit the pageant organization. The contestants had to leave the stage and the scandal lasted for about an hour, until Chiong was removed from the premises. Figueroa was crowned by Miss Guatemala 2007, Alida Boer.
Jennifer was stripped from her crown and title as Miss Guatemala after she abruptly left the Reina Hispanoamericana International Pageant in October 2008 without giving any notice. Jennifer said that she did not feel happy with the treatment she received at the event and thus she took the next flight back home.
Ambergris Today contacted the Costa Maya Festival committee to find out if these actions would affect Jennifer's participation at this year's festival. Festival Chairman Gach Guerrero confirmed that he had been aware of the situation, but assured that whatever problems Jennifer has had with the Miss Guatemala organization does not affect her standings as Miss Costa Maya 2008. Jennifer is still scheduled to return to San Pedro in August and assume her responsibility of crowning the next Miss Costa Maya 2009.