Miami Fashion Week kicks off this week amid controversy after angry Nicaraguans and civil right activists demanded the cancellation of one fashion show.
Comments demanding action flooded the event’s social sites with outrage over Nicaraguan designer Shantall Lacayo’s scheduled participation. Anger stems from the designer’s relationship with Camila Ortega Murillo, who was rumored to attend and is the daughter of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Both are involved with Nicaragua Diseña, an organization subsidized by the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute, which promotes designers.
Nicaragua is in its sixth week of civil unrest as young adults protest President Ortega’s regime. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at least 76 people have been killed and nearly 900 injured, making it the largest protest in the Central American nation since its civil war in 1990.
On the Facebook page for Miami Fashion Week, numerous people bombed the event’s rating by giving it one star and explaining their reasoning. Some fault the designer by association with a corrupt regime, and therefore fault Fashion Week as well. Others pointed out the irony of these ladies enjoying freedoms in the United States while Nicaragua is oppressed.
As of now, the Facebook page has received 573 one-star ratings.
Also, a protest titled Blood Collection was planned via Twitter and Facebook page Nicas Unidos en Miami.
Ortega thugs are killing ppl. A Nicaraguan designer, @ShantallLacayo, whose sidekick’s Ortega’s daughter & has benefited from that association, planning a fashion show in Miami, where hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguan exiles live. Hell, no! Spanish for “protest” is “plantón”. pic.twitter.com/aAU77aakcs
— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) May 29, 2018
Lacayo announced her withdrawal from the event by writing in an Instagram post, "I have reflected about my participation in the Miami Fashion Week 2018 and the confusions that have been generated around me. Due to the situation that my country is living in Nicaragua and before the wave of unfounded speculations, I decided, together with my team, to cancel my participation to which I had been invited to present my 2019 resort collection."
Since her withdrawal, Lacayo’s social media profiles have been switched to private and protesters are debating whether to attend the event.
Weak statement by her. Tell us @ShantallLacayo whether you support the Ortega regime or not. Whether you support genocide or not. Whether you support oppression or not. You want the support of Nicaraguans? Tell us clearly where you stand. Or there won’t be MFW 2019 either. pic.twitter.com/M6iYZpk9KU
— Victoria Torres (@vhumanbean) May 29, 2018
Miami Fashion Week officials have not addressed the issue aside from confirming Lacayo’s withdrawal from the event. Tonight is kickoff night at the Brickell City Centre with a party at Saks Fifth Avenue followed by a runway show by Venezuelan designer Oscar Carvallo.
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