Miss Universe Cuba has a new crown, and its name is creating nearly as much conversation as the women competing to wear it. Ahead of the Miss Universe Cuba 2026 final in Miami, the organization unveiled its new official crown, “La Perla del Caribe,” or “The Pearl of the Caribbean.” The piece will be awarded to the woman chosen to succeed Lina Luaces and represent Cuba at Miss Universe 2026 in Puerto Rico.
The name, however, quickly raised eyebrows. Puerto Rico’s own Miss Universe organization introduced a new crown earlier this year that prominently incorporates a pearl representing Puerto Rico as the “Perla del Caribe.” That similarity has prompted pageant accounts and social media users to question whether Cuba’s concept is too close to Puerto Rico’s, particularly in a year when the Miss Universe competition itself is headed to San Juan.
The debate is more complicated than a simple case of one pageant copying another. Cuba has a long historical connection to the “pearl” nickname, too.
Why the Miss Universe Cuba 2026 crown is controversial
Miss Universe Cuba director Prince Julio César presented the new crown in the days leading up to the August 20 final. Social media posts announcing the piece identified it as “La Perla del Caribe,” the jewel that will be worn by Lina Luaces’ successor.
The timing immediately invited comparisons with Puerto Rico.
In April, Miss Universe Puerto Rico unveiled its 2026 crown, called “Legado,” or “Legacy.” Designed by Lido Jewelers, the crown has a 14-karat polished white-gold base and 78 diamonds representing Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities. At its center is a stylized female figure topped by a pearl. That pearl has a very specific meaning.
According to Puerto Rico pageant director Yizette Cifredo, the design was intended to include something distinctly connected to the island. “What mattered was creating a crown that kept the beauty of a classic queen’s crown, but also had something that was ours,” Cifredo said, translated from Spanish.
The organization explained that the pearl represents Puerto Rico as the “Pearl of the Caribbean” while also honoring Marisol Malaret, who became Puerto Rico’s first Miss Universe in 1970.
So when Miss Universe Cuba subsequently revealed a crown actually named “La Perla del Caribe,” comparisons were almost inevitable. Several pageant-focused social media posts framed the reveal as a potential controversy, with one asking whether the Cuban crown was simply “inspiration” after the Puerto Rican concept had already been introduced.
© TNSPrince Julio César explains why Cuba is “La Perla del Caribe”
Prince Julio César has offered a straightforward explanation for the name. “If Puerto Rico is the Island of Enchantment, Cuba is the Pearl of the Caribbean,” he said in Spanish during media appearances surrounding the crown reveal.
His statement positions the crown as a celebration of Cuban identity rather than an attempt to borrow Puerto Rican symbolism. And there is historical evidence supporting Cuba’s claim to the pearl imagery.
© TNSCuba has been referred to for well over a century as the “Pearl of the Antilles.” An 1873 book by Walter Goodman, The Pearl of the Antilles, or An Artist in Cuba, specifically described the phrase as one of several affectionate titles historically given to the island. The Library of Congress also holds early 20th-century material identifying Cuba as the “pearl of the Antilles.”
A Library of Congress-hosted academic text notes that Cuba was known in the 19th century as the “pearl of the Antilles,” among other descriptions. That history makes the controversy considerably less clear-cut.
Venezuela enters the “La Perla del Caribe” controversy
There is another country with a strong historical reason to join the conversation. As debate grows over Miss Universe Cuba naming its new crown “La Perla del Caribe,” or “The Pearl of the Caribbean,” Venezuelans have pointed out that the phrase has long been associated with Isla de Margarita, the popular Caribbean island in Venezuela’s Nueva Esparta state.
And this is not a recent nickname created for social media. A Venezuelan publication dating to 1951, Miguel Hadgialy Divo’s La Virgen del Valle en la vida margariteña, prominently describes the island as “Margarita, La Perla del Caribe.” Translated into English, the phrase is simply “Margarita, the Pearl of the Caribbean.”
© AFP via Getty ImagesThe association between Margarita and pearls goes back much further.
The name “Margarita” itself comes from the Greek word margarites, meaning “pearl.” Historical accounts say that after Europeans reached the area in the late 15th century, the waters surrounding Margarita, Cubagua and Coche became famous for their abundance of pearls. That history gives Venezuela an unusually literal connection to the “Pearl of the Caribbean” nickname.
Some Venezuelans are now arguing that “La Perla del Caribe” was originally coined for Isla de Margarita, but that specific claim requires some caution.
Cuba has historically been called “La Perla de las Antillas,” or “The Pearl of the Antilles,” a nickname documented in 19th-century literature.
Puerto Rico has also been described as “La Perla del Caribe,” and Miss Universe Puerto Rico incorporated that symbolism directly into its 2026 “Legado” crown, whose central pearl represents the island.
© Getty Images
© Josian Bruno / Wapa Digital
© AFP via Getty ImagesSo the question may not be who owns “La Perla del Caribe?” The better question is if can any one Miss Universe organization claim a Caribbean nickname that multiple islands have used for generations?
