Miss Mexico's pageant dress raises eyebrows

Enlarge Milenio Diario de Tampico Miss Mexico, Rosa Maria Ojeda, will have to tone down her Miss Universe pageant dress (shown here), which is accented with crosses, scapulars and a sketch of a man facing a firing squad.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Miss Mexico is toning down her Miss Universe pageant dress — not because it's too slinky or low-cut, but because its bullet-studded belt and images of hangings from a 1920s uprising have outraged Mexicans.

The floor-length dress is accented with crosses, scapulars and a sketch of a man facing a firing squad. Designers who helped select the dress from among 30 entries argued it represented the nation's culture and history, especially since Mexico City is hosting the pageant in May.

Cut from a traditional natural cotton called manta, the dress depicts scenes from the 1926-1929 Cristero war, an uprising by Roman Catholic rebels against Mexico's secular government, which was imposing fiercely anti-clerical laws. Tens of thousands of people died.

"We wanted a dress that made you think of Mexico," Hector Terrones, who served on the selection committee, told La Jornada newspaper. "The design should grab people's attention and have impact without giving too much information."

But many Mexicans weren't happy about the history the dress evoked, especially at a moment of debate about the Catholic Church's role in politics and its lobbying against a Mexico City proposal to legalize abortion. Others said it glorified violence in a country where a battle between drug gangs has brought a wave of killings and beheadings.

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