| Irene Sáez Beauty pageant titleholder | |
|---|---|
| Birth name: | Irene Lailin Sáez Conde |
| Birthdate: | December 13 1961 |
| Birth location: | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Eye color: | Hazel |
| Hair color: | Blonde |
| Title(s): | Miss Venezuela 1981 Miss Universe 1981 |
Irene Lailin Sáez Conde (born 13 December 1961) is a Venezuelan politician and former Miss Universe. Sáez was born in the city of Caracas.
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Pageants
Sáez was crowned Miss Venezuela 1981 winning with 305 votes. She was also Queen of Club Campestre Los Cortijos for three years in a row.
Sáez was crowned Miss Universe 1981 at the 30th annual pageant in New York City at the age of 19.
Political career
In the early 1990s Sáez served two terms as the mayor of Chacao, one of the five municipalities that make up Caracas, and gained some notoriety by banning overly passionate kissing in public parks. She was the first Mayor of Chacao elected by popular vote. Previously all mayors were chosen by the Governor of Caracas. In 1997, she formed the Integrated Representation of New Hope (IRENE) party as a launching pad for her run in the 1998 elections. For a while, she shocked the Venezuelan political establishment when she led in opinion polls in the race for president and was the most popular politician in the early days of the race. She ran on a platform to end corruption, reducing bureaucracy and refinancing the public debt. Sáez's political campaign, however, began to falter by mid 1998 for several reasons. Her decision to ally herself with two other political parties, COPEI and Democratic Action, along with some poorly executed television interviews, as well as the growing popularity of Hugo Chávez, all combined to result in her tumble from the top of the polls. Eventually, in the December 1998 election she finished a distant fourth with 2.8% of the vote. From 1999 to 2000, she served as governor of the state of Nueva Esparta, but stepped down when she became pregnant, denying rumors that she was pushed aside by Chávez. [1]
Post-political career
Sáez later got married and moved to the United States to live in Miami, Florida, and in 2003 she was named to the board of directors of the Colonial Bank of South Florida. [2]
External links
| Preceded by Shawn Weatherly | Miss Universe 1981 | Succeeded by Karen Baldwin |
