The chain Riu Hotels sponsors pageant
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.- Karen Yapoort, the host candidate of the Dominicana Republic, took the Miss Ambar World 2009 crown, in the pageant staged in the Azúcar theater of the RIU Bambú Hotel, in Punta Cana.
She’s the first Dominican ever to obtain the Miss Ambar title, which is held yearly since the 1970s.
The candidatas from 28 diferent coutries included Aruba, Carol Bruyning; Bolivia, Pamela Chavarría; Brazil, Jessica Pereira, Canada, Isabelle Grastin; Colombia, Natalia Ospina; Costa Rica, Stephanie Zuñaiga; Cuba, Vanessa Gonzalez; United States, Camille Collazo; Ecuador, Mishelle Calvache; El Salvador, María Adriana Corletto; France, Jenny Vauzanges; Ghana, Adwoa Yomoah; Italy, Liz Martino; Iran, Tara Mobayen; Korea, Rudia Jang; Holland, Natasha Peterson; Nicaragua, Lucia Sequeiro; Panama, Amada Safiro Deer; Peru, María Cristina Delgado; Portugal, Jessica Goncalves; Puerto Rico, Ana Batista; Romania, Madalina Bejgu; Russia, Svetlana Tsys; Spain, Lourdes Fernández; Venezuela, Madelline Castellanos; Kazakstan, Inessa Nazarova, Georgia, Maria Sarchimelia, and Dominican Republic, Karen Yapoort.
From: United States, New York City
Hermosa...congrats.
Written by: xwill7, 27 Jul 2009 12:30 PM
From: United States, Chicago
Can she cook mangu?
Written by: Gizmoe 
, 27 Jul 2009 1:30 PM
From: United States
Gorgeous!
From: United States, New York
"Can she cook mangu?"
I'm sure her future husband will provide her with more than enough maids.
Written by: xwill7, 27 Jul 2009 2:29 PM
From: United States, Chicago
maids?
It taste better when your wife puts her love and care into your home cooked meals
Written by: acmore, 27 Jul 2009 3:30 PM
From: United States
Prefiero una morena.
Written by: tdown1, 27 Jul 2009 5:46 PM
From: United States
By Domnican Standards she's been in the sun to long,means she is to dark.
From: Dominican Republic, Boycott Dominican Tourism
she hot... what kind of name is Kapoort?
From: United States, Fresh Water Paradise-NY Finger Lakes
Very beautiful lady; however, neither her name or appearance suggest she is Dominican. She seems European and likely Dutch, assumptions that could render award hollow.
All those extremely beautiful Quisqueyanas and we couldn't find one to represent us? I don't really believe it. I think this is part of the inferiority complex afflicting many Dominicans, which convinces them that they and everything Dominican are inferior to everything foreign.
Amazing, but here in Europe, no one feels that way- even in the smallest country and most remote village. Italians, in particular, are extremely proud and clearly think of themselves as being part of top echelon as a race and in the arts and sciences. They might be wrong, but I appreciate their sense of pride and patriotism and appreciation for everything Italian.
Written by: UnDyin86, 28 Jul 2009 12:39 AM
From: United States
Who cares what her surname is? How do you know she isn't dominican born and raised and thus just as dominican as any other? Hey, our morenas are beautiful but Ms. Kapoort can love DR and represent it as faithfully as any other dominican, whether her last name is Bonelly, Kohan or Cruz, or she be black or white or gray. Are Carmen Dominicci and Karla Monroig less puertorican because of there surnames? No. Anyway, good luck girl!!
Written by: buenoha, 28 Jul 2009 3:55 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
This girl is totally Dominican. How much more BS can one read on this forum. We already told you the DR is a multiracial country! Estupidos...
Written by: Lautaro, 28 Jul 2009 9:21 AM
From: Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo
glomar said: "Very beautiful lady; however, neither her name or appearance suggest she is Dominican. She seems European and likely Dutch, assumptions that could render award hollow."
You'll have to excuse me on this my friend, but Ms. Yapoort has as much of a right to the dominican name (and to represent us accordingly) as any Yulady from el barrio. In fact, the more we cast people like her at the forefront, the better. That way, perhaps foreigners will one day stop being dumbstruck whenever a scandinavian or central american looking chap/gal tells them "I'm dominican" (the central american look being my case), cuz' the majority of them think that the "typical" dominican have to look like David Ortiz and/or Sammy Sosa, when the reality is that our country is (and always should be) more diverse than that stereotype.
Written by: xwill7, 28 Jul 2009 9:44 AM
From: United States, Chicago
glomare,
I know a ton of Dominican girls that look similar to her. Her family tree must go back to Europe, but that does not mean she is not Dominican.
Lautaro,
I aggree with you man. Everyone thinks that ALL Dominicans look like Ortiz and Sosa. I am a light skin Dominican and people are shocked when I tell them that I am Dominican. I always tell them that DR has every color.
From: United States, Fresh Water Paradise-NY Finger Lakes
Look, my comments may have been taken a bit out context here.
I am not saying she is not Dominican. I am simply asking if she is.
My personal family looks European, and my father holds both French [Paris] and Dominican passports. There have been numerous occasions, when discussions got somewhat heated, where we were told we are not even Dominicans. As a child, I personally had schoolyard fights over this. Usually, such statements were made when I was winning the argument. Remember that arguing and heated political discussions are clearly Dominican character traits, so I pass!
Again, this lady is very beautiful indeed and, no matter her ancestry, I congratulate her-especially if she is Dominican. I hope her intelligence matches her physical attributes, too. In that case, she would be a "perfect 10".
Thank you.
From: Dominican Republic
She's 100% dominican, born to a foreign-born father, was wrong with that? aren't all dominican from foreign descent????
Written by: Amber, 28 Jul 2009 4:25 PM
From: United States
It amazes me how there are those who always want to start the ethnic and racial issue in this forum at every opportunity whether valid or not. Envy usually brings out the worst in people. I'm also one of those who's always told "You don't look Dominican". In fact I'm sick of hearing it. I consider myself 100% Dominican in spite of my family coming from Italy and Spain.
¡¡¡ Viva la República Dominicana!!!!!!
Congratulations to Karen!
Written by: Trujillo, 29 Jul 2009 1:35 PM
From: Dominican Republic
Racism isn't just from whites to blacks, it's also the other way around and you can see it in some of the comments here. I'm 100% dominican, white and proud of it. I have cousins, uncles etc with blonde hair, blue, grey, green eyes and of course white skin and are100% dominicans, but according to someone they don't have the "appearance" of a dominican. Shame on you.
Written by: Trujillo, 29 Jul 2009 1:41 PM
From: Dominican Republic
I'm also tired of people saying that I don't speak like a dominican. wtf
Written by: acmore, 29 Jul 2009 2:13 PM
From: United States
The real question is, why in a country of so much color is there so much representation by whites in government, business and entertainment?
From: United States, New York City
"The real question is, why in a country of so much color is there so much representation by whites in government, business and entertainment?"
I don't think that's entirely true. Look at pictures of all the Dominican senators and representatives. One will find individuals of all hues. The president himself is a person of color, no question. Tell me another Spanish speaking country where someone like Corproran would have a long running TV program? I know of no merengueros that can pass for white off the top of my head right now (well, maybe el Prodigio...and the late Jochy Hernandez). I'm certain that a grouping of businessmen in a photo save certain specific areas of the country would yeild similiar results to Dominican lawmakers. That's there's a preferance for a lighter aesthetic is certainly true, undeniably so, but one thing is discourse and another is reality.
From: United States
Karen Yapoort is a Cibaeña and if I am not mistaken was born in either Constanza or Jarabacoa and from her last name is most likely of Syrian/Lebanese descent. A very good percentage of Dominican blood line is composed of middle eastern exiles which arrived in the DR with Turkish travel documents during the turn of last century and as a consequence of the Ottoman occupation from 1516 to 1918. Syria in the Ottoman era included modern(Ottoman Turkish: Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, and parts of Turkey and Iraq.
From: United States, New York City
I thought she was from Jarabacoa? And indeed, many people from the Levant settled in DR. I once heard that as much as 700, 000 Dominicans might have some ancestry among those that came. Hell, my youngest sister is descended partially from those people. And they settled all over Latin America. My wife's family, which is of South American origin, is also partially descended from people that came from that part of the world late in the 19th century.
From: United States
I know she represented Jarabacoa for the pageant, but I read some place that she was actually born in nearby Constanza, but I wont swear on that. Eventually, as she becomes better known more personal facts about her will come forth with greater certainty.
I also have a half brother from Santiago who is part Lebanese. In the DR we still call them "Turcos" but of course we know that the term has less to do with place of birth but more as a way to identify exiles from countries that were once under the control of Turkey during the Ottoman Empire.
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I'm sure her future husband will provide her with more than enough maids.
It taste better when your wife puts her love and care into your home cooked meals
All those extremely beautiful Quisqueyanas and we couldn't find one to represent us? I don't really believe it. I think this is part of the inferiority complex afflicting many Dominicans, which convinces them that they and everything Dominican are inferior to everything foreign.
Amazing, but here in Europe, no one feels that way- even in the smallest country and most remote village. Italians, in particular, are extremely proud and clearly think of themselves as being part of top echelon as a race and in the arts and sciences. They might be wrong, but I appreciate their sense of pride and patriotism and appreciation for everything Italian.
You'll have to excuse me on this my friend, but Ms. Yapoort has as much of a right to the dominican name (and to represent us accordingly) as any Yulady from el barrio. In fact, the more we cast people like her at the forefront, the better. That way, perhaps foreigners will one day stop being dumbstruck whenever a scandinavian or central american looking chap/gal tells them "I'm dominican" (the central american look being my case), cuz' the majority of them think that the "typical" dominican have to look like David Ortiz and/or Sammy Sosa, when the reality is that our country is (and always should be) more diverse than that stereotype.
I know a ton of Dominican girls that look similar to her. Her family tree must go back to Europe, but that does not mean she is not Dominican.
Lautaro,
I aggree with you man. Everyone thinks that ALL Dominicans look like Ortiz and Sosa. I am a light skin Dominican and people are shocked when I tell them that I am Dominican. I always tell them that DR has every color.
I am not saying she is not Dominican. I am simply asking if she is.
My personal family looks European, and my father holds both French [Paris] and Dominican passports. There have been numerous occasions, when discussions got somewhat heated, where we were told we are not even Dominicans. As a child, I personally had schoolyard fights over this. Usually, such statements were made when I was winning the argument. Remember that arguing and heated political discussions are clearly Dominican character traits, so I pass!
Again, this lady is very beautiful indeed and, no matter her ancestry, I congratulate her-especially if she is Dominican. I hope her intelligence matches her physical attributes, too. In that case, she would be a "perfect 10".
Thank you.
¡¡¡ Viva la República Dominicana!!!!!!
Congratulations to Karen!
I don't think that's entirely true. Look at pictures of all the Dominican senators and representatives. One will find individuals of all hues. The president himself is a person of color, no question. Tell me another Spanish speaking country where someone like Corproran would have a long running TV program? I know of no merengueros that can pass for white off the top of my head right now (well, maybe el Prodigio...and the late Jochy Hernandez). I'm certain that a grouping of businessmen in a photo save certain specific areas of the country would yeild similiar results to Dominican lawmakers. That's there's a preferance for a lighter aesthetic is certainly true, undeniably so, but one thing is discourse and another is reality.
I also have a half brother from Santiago who is part Lebanese. In the DR we still call them "Turcos" but of course we know that the term has less to do with place of birth but more as a way to identify exiles from countries that were once under the control of Turkey during the Ottoman Empire.