Miss Peru send her representative, Mary Núñez, to the Miss Universe Pageant, because she was prevented from participating by the president of the republic, Juan Velasco Alvarado. He considered the contest was the product of American capitalism, and a country with which he did not have good relations. This was the only occasion in which a Miss Peru did not participate in the Miss Universe except for the 1955 and 1974, when no contest was held. Given the refusal of Alvarado, Mary Núñez was sent to Miss World 1973 in London, England. In 1982, Peru became the first South American country to
Juan Bautista Alvarado Oakland. Alvarado's adobe house, at the foot of Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey, survives as a California Historical Landmark. The former settlement of Alvarado (now part of Union City) was named after him, as was Alvarado Street in San Francisco's Noe Valley. Portions of the Rancho San Pablo adobe are incorporated into the current City of San Pablo government campus and Alvarado Park within Wildcat Canyon Regional Park is named in his honor. Juan Bautista Alvarado Juan Bautista Valentín Alvarado y Vallejo (February 14, 1809 – July 13, 1882) was a Californio and Governor of Las Californias from 1837 to