| Miss Grand Cuba | |
| Founder: | Daryanne Lees |
| Formation: | 2023 |
| Type: | Beauty pageant |
| Headquarters: | Palm Beach |
| Location: | United States |
| Leader Title: | National director |
| Leader Name: | Cristian Aguiar |
| Membership: | Miss Grand International |
| Website: | MissGrandCuba.com |
Miss Grand Cuba is a national title given to a woman chosen to represent Cuba at the Miss Grand International pageant. The first titleholder was a Mexican-Cuban model from Sinaloa, Jamillette Gaxiola, who was appointed by the Miss Cuba organization to compete at the inaugural edition of the mentioned international contest in Thailand, where she was ranked in the final 10.[1] Since then, Cuba has always sent their representatives to compete every year; however, most of them were appointed to the position without organizing the respective pageant until 2022, when a Miami-based Cuban pageant, Miss y Mister Cuba, acquired the license and the Miss Grand Cuba titleholder was elected through such a contest.
The first stand-alone contest of Miss Grand Cuba happened in mid-2023 in Tampa, Florida, organized by former Miss Grand International 2014, Daryanne Lees, after she took over the franchise from the Miss y Mister Cuba organization,
Cuba has usually been sending their representatives to compete at the Miss Grand International since 2013, and won the contest once in 2014 by a Cuban-Puerto Rican, Daryanne Lees, who later became the director of the Miss Grand Cuba pageant in 2023.[2] From 2013 to 2020, the license belonged to a Miami-based pageant organizer chaired by Noemi Meléndez, Miss Cuba. However, no national contests were organized for Miss Grand International; Cuban representatives for the mentioned period were all appointed.
In 2021, the license was taken over by another group of Cuban Americans, Vicar Abel and Miledy de los Santos, and was then transferred to Julio César Cruz and Faddya Halabi in 2022, when Miss Grand Cuba was one of the main titles in their national pageant, Miss y Mister Cuba. However, Daryanne Lees, with a former licensee, Noemi Meléndez, as chief financial officer, took the license back in 2023 and organized the first contest of Miss Grand Cuba in Tampa, Florida, in mid-2023, to select the country representative for the 2023 edition of Miss Grand International.[2] The license was then transferred to a Florida-based Cuban photographer, Cristian Aguiar, the following year.
The following are the details of the Miss Grand Cuba edition, which was held as a stand-alone pageant only once in 2023.
| Edition | width=100px rowspan=2 | Date ! | Final venue | Entrants | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=100px | Winner! | width=100px | 1st runner-up! | width=100px | 2nd runner-up! | width=100px | 3rd runner-up | ||
| 20 August 2023 | Tampa Marriott Westshore, Tampa, Florida, United States | 5 | [3] | ||||||
The following is a list of Cuban representatives at the Miss Grand International contest.
| Year | Miss Grand Cuba | Title | Placement | Special Awards | National Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Lourdes Feliu[4] | 1st runner-up Miss Grand Cuba 2023 | Unplaced | Cristian Aguiar | |
| 2023 | Sofia Acosta | Miss Grand Cuba 2023 | Unplaced | Daryanne Lees | |
| 2022 | Daniela Espinosa[5] | Julio César Cruz & Faddya Halabi | |||
| Fabién Laurencio[6] | 1st runner-up Nuestra Belleza Latina 2021 | Unplaced | |||
| 2021 | Geysel Valliant[7] | Appointed | Unplaced | Vicar Abel & Miledy de los Santos | |
| 2020 | Geysel Vailant[8] | Appointed | Noemi Meléndez | ||
| Jennifer Sánchez | Appointed | Unplaced | |||
| 2019 | Elaine González[9] | Appointed | Unplaced | ||
| 2018 | Gladys Carredeguas[10] | Appointed | Top 20 |
| |
| 2017 | Rachel Vazquez | Appointed | colspan="2" | ||
| Yvette Blaess[11] | Finalist Miss World America 2016 | colspan="2" | |||
| Lisandra Delgado[12] | Appointed | Unplaced | |||
| 2016 | Merys Navarro[13] | Appointed | Top 20 | ||
| 2015 | María Manzo[14] | Appointed | Unplaced | ||
| 2014 | Daryanne Lees[15] | 1st Runner-up Miss Earth USA 2014 | Winner | ||
| 2013 | Jamillette Gaxiola[16] | 2nd runner-up Senorita Republica Deportiva | Top 10 |