Miss Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza after being crowned Miss Universe 2006 in Los Angeles, 23 July 2006. AFP PHOTO / HECTOR MATA

"The truth is, I still do not believe it," the 18-year-old student and model said after she was crowned.

Beauties from 86 nations competed in the 55th Miss Universe pageant at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, vying to succeed Canadian Natalie Glebova, Miss Universe 2005, in a contest little-watched in its host country.

The event, run by real estate mogul Donald Trump's organization, now attracts most interest in Latin America and in the Asia-Pacific region though it is broadcast to an estimated 600 million people in 170 countries.

Rivera answered her final question, in Spanish, about how she viewed success: "That special satisfaction when a person gives what they can without worrying about the obstacles in the way."

Rivera is 175 centimeters (five feet, nine inches) tall, and was chosen from among the final five candidates, which included Switzerland, Japan, Paraguay and the United States, to wear the 250,000-dollar crown.

Puerto Rican contestants won the crown in 1970, 1985, 1993 and 2001, the second-greatest number after the United States.

The US has won the title a record seven times and its representative, Tara Conner, made the final five contestants this time, as did Miss Paraguay, Lourdes Arevalo; Miss Switzerland, Lauriane Gillieron and Miss Japan, Kurara Chibana.

Chibana, the first runner-up -- a journalism student who wants to be a war correspondent, said: "I want women in my country to see that it can be done."

While most Americans are not interested in the event, their Latin American neighbors are, which could explain why the presenters for the spectacle paired Nancy O'Dell, who hosts a Hollywood gossip program, with Spanish-language soap opera heartthrob and singer Carlos Ponce of Puerto Rico.

The jury was also Latino-heavy, with Telemundo anchorwoman Maria Celeste Arraras and the Dominican Republic's Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega among them.

Also on the judges' benches were "10" movie star Bo Derek, American football hero Emmitt Smith, actor James Lesure, society photographer Patrick McMullan, fashion designer Santino Rice, and Sean Yazbeck, who rose to fame as a contestant on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice".

The only performer listed as "international," Chela, is not well-known outside the United States, but famous in the United States for his hit "Cha Cha" in "Spanglish" during the 2006 World Cup of football.

Since 1972, Miss Universe has been broadcast from different countries, in exchange for paying the Trump organization six million dollars. In return, the host country enjoys some 15 million dollars in revenues generated for the local economy in hotels and tourism, according to the organization.