| Gloria Karamañites | |||||||||
| Birth Name: | Gloria Karamañites | ||||||||
| Miss Panama Universe 1980 | |||||||||
| Birth Date: | 1960 12, df=yes | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Panama City, Panamá | ||||||||
| Hair Color: | Black | ||||||||
| Eye Color: | Black | ||||||||
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Gloria Karamañites born Panama City, (Panamá), is a Panamanian actress and beauty pageant titleholder who became the first Black woman to win the Miss Panamá beauty pageant title in 1980 and is the subject of the Miss Panama (2021) documentary.
Karamañites competed in the national beauty pageant Miss Panamá 1980, representing the province of Colón. During the final competition, pageant officials tried to block her victory by having her answer an additional obscure legal question.[1] Karamañites' victory was celebrated as a success for Afro-Panamanians and Afro-descendants in Panama. She was the first Black Panamanian to have won the Miss Panamá competition.
She represented Panama in Miss Universe 1980, and placed among the 12 semifinalists, obtaining the title of Miss Panamá Universo.[2] She represented Panama Centro state.[3] The 29th Miss Universe pageant was held at the Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul, South Korea on July 8, 1980.
Karamañites's experiences with racism towards Panama's Afro-descendant community during the Miss Panamá 1980 contest were the subject of a documentary, Miss Panama (2021). The documentary was co-directed by her daughter, Lamar Bailey Karamañites, as well as filmmakers Pascale Boucicaut and David Felix Sutcliffe. The documentary premiered at the Tribeca International Film Festival in 2021.[4] [5]