Miss Venezuela 2004 Monica Spears Mootz could have easily been the Miss Universe 2005. It was an era, with a feeling that it was indeed a bygone century, where fierceness is the proper measure when one is assessing as to who will win the Miss Universe crown. Monica was not that fierce. Her beauty is alluringly sweet and had she won the crown, she could have ushered the so-called sweet era by at at least half a decade early.
Monica is an American citizen whose love for her native country never dwindled. She came home to her domus dulcis domus with a dream of one day representing it in the international arena. Even when that dream materialized and having lived a comfortable life in the state of Florida, Monica never abandoned Venezuela. She returned regularly and it is her love for Venezuela that eventually cost her – her life.
Venezuela is a like a magnet for Monica, as it is for so many Venezuelans who chose to live abroad. But the social tensions, the wrong direction that the country is going and the rising crime rate is tarnishing the image of the beauty superpower nation. The chances of being murdered in broad daylight at Caracas is way higher than having a Miss Venezuela land in a Big4 semifinals. And to think that most of us always see a Venezuelan landing at the Big4 semifinals.
Monica Spears Mootz died tragically. It was a senseless killing of a beautiful woman and her husband in front of their 5-year old daughter. Such act of cowardice should be condemned by everyone. Venezuela, a land where the most beautiful women came from, should turn the senseless murder of such a beautiful beauty queen into a rallying cry in order to wage war against the rising criminality in the country.
