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
Doris Gibson asked for its return, she responded, "I don't want to be nude in your house." Gibson started the weekly news magazine "Caretas" in 1950, using 10,000 soles which her uncle had lent her, along with a room and a typewriter. The first issue appeared in October 1950, but before the end of the year her operation was shut down by then-dictator Manuel A. Odría (1948–1956). This pattern became familiar: the operation was closed five times by the government of Juan Velasco Alvarado (1975–1980) (in October 1969 Velasco ordered the arrest and deportation [to Spain] of then-editor Enrique Zileri Gibson). The