| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
| Born | Irene Lailin Sáez Conde December 13, 1961 Caracas, Venezuela |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Mayor of Chacao (1993–1998) Governor of Nueva Esparta (1999–2000) |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 59.2 kg (131 lb) |
| Hair color | Blonde |
| Eye color | Light Brown |
| Title(s) | Miss Venezuela 1981 Miss Confraternidad Sudamericana Miss Universe 1981 |
| Major competition(s) |
Miss Venezuela 1981 (Winner) Miss Confraternidad Sudamericana (Winner) Miss Universe 1981 (Winner) |
Irene Lailin Sáez Conde (born 13 December 1961 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan politician and a former Miss Universe. She has been a model, was the mayor of Chacao (a municipality of Caracas), Governor of the state of Nueva Esparta and a former presidential candidate.
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Sáez was crowned Miss Venezuela 1981 and later, crowned Miss Universe 1981 at the 30th annual pageant in New York City at the age of 19.[1] She was also Queen of Club Campestre Los Cortijos for three years in a row. In 1997, she was awarded the Distinguished Achievement Award at the Miss Universe Pageant, a recently created prize of the Miss Universe Organization. She made her acceptance speech in both English and Spanish. Sáez was received in the International Airport Simón Bolívar by former president of Venezuela, Luis Herrera Campins and he gave her a chain of gold for her victory in Miss Universe.
After spending a year travelling the world as Miss Universe, Sáez had studied political science at the Central University of Venezuela, and then served a year as Venezuela's cultural representative to the United Nations.[2] In the early 1990s Sáez turned to electoral politics, and a week after the November 1992 coup attempt was elected mayor of Chacao Municipality, the wealthiest of the five municipalities of Caracas.[2]
In office, Sáez tackled Chacao's high crime rate by professionalising the municipal police force, with university graduates as officers, higher pay, new police vehicles, and a variety of mobility devices (including roller skates and mountain bikes) allowing the police to move around quickly.[2] Crime fell dramatically as a result.[2] Without political experience or an established party machine, Sáez was happy to rely on experts, and "hired top-notch administrators and listened to their advice about everything from setting the budget to running public services."[2]
By the time of the next election in December 1995, Sáez was so popular that she didn't bother to campaign, and only one independent candidate opposed her. Her 96% share of the vote was the highest in Venezuela's democratic history.[3] The Times of London ranked her 83rd in its list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, and presidential rumours multiplied.[3]
Sáez kept her distance from the mainstream parties, and in 1997, she formed the Integrated Representation of New Hope (IRENE) party as a launch pad for her run in the December 1998 presidential elections. In the final poll of the year in December 1997 she reached almost 70%.[4] However despite spending millions of dollars on publicity, she fell below 15% within six months, as the public became increasingly sceptical of her readiness for the Presidency, and as she lost credibility as an anti-establishment candidate after accepting the endorsement of COPEI.[4]
She ran on a platform to end corruption, reducing bureaucracy and refinancing the public debt. One of the factors in her political demise was the rise of the radical Hugo Chávez, who provided a message of much more dramatic challenge to the establishment, including a constitutional assembly to write a new constitution. By contrast, Sáez "still spoke like a beauty queen anxious to avoid offending anybody in any way in anyplace,"[5] and led some to speak of the contest as between "the beauty and the beast".[6] At the same time, Sáez's late 1997 mis-step in Chacao of banning kissing in public plazas helped raise doubts about whether her success in the small, rich Chacao could translate to the Presidency.[6] By August the Radical Cause party withdrew its backing, saying that she had "lost her status as an independent".[7] Shortly before election day, even COPEI abandoned her in favour of endorsing Henrique Salas Römer.[8] Ultimately she finished a distant third with 2.8% of the vote.
Soon after the 1998 presidential election, Sáez was elected Governor of the state of Nueva Esparta, in an election made necessary by the January 1999 death in office of Rafael Tovar. She won overwhelmingly with more than 70% of the votes, defeating the candidate of Democratic Action.
She served as governor of the state until 2000, stepping down when she became pregnant, denying rumors that she was pushed aside by Chávez.[9]
Sáez married American television producer and chemical heir Darryl duPont in 1982, the couple later divorced. Sáez remarried and had a son (born in 2000) and divorced again. She later moved to the United States to live in Miami, Florida. Saez married again and In 2003 she was named to the board of directors of the Colonial BancGroup, south Florida region. [2] and had a son.
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| First | Miss Confraternidad Sudamericana 1981 |
Vacant
Title next held by
Paola Ruggeri (1983)as Miss Sudamérica |
| Preceded by Maye Brandt |
Miss Venezuela 1981 |
Succeeded by Ana Teresa Oropeza |
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