Beauty Queens Reign Supreme in Venezuela : Competition: Pageant-crazed country has yielded three Miss Universes and four Miss Worlds in the last 15 years, but the process exacts a toll.

They wend their way daily to Osmel Sousa’s door in form-fitting Lycra dresses and black stiletto high heels.

Few see Sousa, the king of Venezuela’s beauty industry, during their visit. Instead, they can only leave their photos and vital statistics before being shown unceremoniously to the door.

Of the thousands who make the annual pilgrimage, only a few dozen will prance the catwalk in a bathing suit and heels in the mirrored viewing room of the melon-pink Miss Venezuela villa in one of Caracas’ tonier districts.

There they are judged on their beauty and transformation potential by Sousa, president of the Miss Venezuela contest, and a small coterie of plastic and dental surgeons, makeup artists and contest officials. The stakes are high: To be chosen as a potential contestant by Sousa and his Miss Venezuela team is the first step to fame and riches in this beauty queen-crazed country.

It’s also an opportunity for Venezuela’s dress designers and others in the beauty business to showcase their wares on an international stage.

The Miss Venezuela contest alone has an annual budget of 90 million bolivares ($529,400), most of it garnered from advertising time sold the night of the annual Miss Venezuela contest. The show, which has been known to run more than four hours, pulls in about 90% of the television viewing population each year.

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For the young women, though, the price can be exacting. One young woman, plucked from the lineup by the “team,” was examined at length by three officials, who unceremoniously pulled back her lips to examine her teeth and gums. “Look at her chin; it juts out too much,” said one, running a finger across an almost imperceptible bump.

The girl winced as if she had been slapped, her chance at fame gone. Seeing her distress, the critic was quick to offer consolation--and his business card. “It’s not that bad. Call me tomorrow, and we can fix it,” said her examiner, the official plastic surgeon for the contest.

Sousa is unrepentant about what critics have charged is a beauty-queen factory, where young women are surgically put together. “I am seeking perfection,” said Sousa, president of what is, arguably, the most successful beauty industry in the world.

Sousa’s search has already taken nearly 33 years of his life. Although the search goes on, Venezuela has nonetheless yielded three Miss Universes and four Miss Worlds in the last 15 years.

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Last year’s top three winners eventually took fifth runner-up in the Miss Universe contest, third runner-up in the Miss World contest and first runner-up in the big one--the Miss International contest.

The second-most-successful country, the United States, has had only five winners in Miss World or Miss Universe contests during the same period. For a nation of only 21 million people, or 0.3% of the world’s population, Venezuela has achieved stunning results.

Former queens are guaranteed careers in television, soap operas, modeling and even politics. After winning the Miss Universe contest in 1981, Irene Saez entered politics in 1993 and is now a rumored front-runner for the 1998 presidential election.

The industry’s success is so overwhelming that it is regularly held up by the country’s business institutes as the model of how Venezuelan firms can successfully compete internationally.

Sousa is uncharacteristically modest about such accolades. “This industry manages itself with dedication and lots of enthusiasm,” he said. “And for me, exchange controls don’t exist, nor do bad situations.”

Sousa and his team start working every March for the Miss Venezuela contest held each September. That’s when the team conducts its annual talent search, allowing ample time for contestants to recover from the inevitable plastic surgery and to shed excess weight.

The most common operations are nose jobs, lip augmentation, eyebrow lifting and liposuction, said Dr. Alberto Pierini, the official Miss Venezuela plastic surgeon.

Pierini insists that Venezuela is not the exception in contests throughout the world. “In the United States, most of the competitors have operations,” he said. “I have worked on the [former] Miss Brazil and the [former] Miss Puerto Rico. They come here because it’s cheap.”

Besides surgery, 28 contestants and two alternates are schooled in etiquette, English, makeup application and locution, while undergoing an exacting physical regimen of daily three-hour aerobics workouts, weight training and dance.

“I haven’t eaten chocolate in eight months,” said last year’s Miss Venezuela shortly before the Miss Universe contest. “When it’s over, I’ll run out shouting, ‘I’m free, I’m free!’ ” said Denyse Floreano. “But in the meantime, I won’t give up. It’s a responsibility I have to my country.”

This year’s Miss Venezuela, Alicia Machado, was crowned in an upset victory after the two front-runners stumbled during the “personality” segment of the contest.

Machado has little to look forward to in the next eight months except long hours in the gym and chocolate-free days as she begins preparations for next May’s Miss Universe contest. Few understand the sacrifices facing the 18-year-old Machado as well as last year’s second runner-up. “The crown is very heavy,” said Ana Maria Amorer. “You have no idea.”