Here's a screeshot of Espinoza's tirade:
Here's my English translation:
"Who is this character in the world and especially in Latin America? It’s Julio Rodriguez Matute, from our brother country Venezuela, who really is the International Director for all Latinos. Now I wonder who would be foolish enough to quarrel with him; none of us Latino directors would do that, but there is a STUPID MAN IN ASIA, who did quarrel with him knowing that Julio is the one who mentors us and who advices us to which Asian events should we go with our candidates. That stupid man is the biggest thief; he assured us Latino directors that he would reimburse us for all the expenses caused by the other thief from South Korea, the director of Mister International South Korea; the expenses for the two flight changes that we had to make, and in other cases many lost their airfares and don't even have the resources to go to South Korea a to compete in the worst male pageant. After being the best male pageant in the world, it became the worst of Asia due to the lack of earnestness of its owner, Mr. Alan Sim, for whom the title of SIR is unsuitable because that title is only given to men who are well-behaved and who keep their promises. To my dear Latin American directors of the Mister International pageant, some of whom used to have the franchise and some still have it, let's unite to support our friend Julio Rodriguez Matute, whose Venezuelan franchise has been taken away just because he chose to tell the truth about what is happening in the Asian organization; they owe him money and they already told him that they will not reimburse him, just like they did to me and God knows to how many of you also.
WE HAVE TO GIVE THE ASIAN TYRANT A HARD TIME AND THAT WE LATINOS DO NOT LICK SOMEONE'S BOOTS, AND THAT OUR CANDIDATES AND DIRECTORS ARE OF THE HIGHEST STANDARD IN THE WORLD AND TOGETHER WE ARE A FORCE."
--------
Meanwhile, Luis Trujillo, the director for Haiti, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, posted on his Facebook earlier today the following rant, though much milder than Espinoza's:
My translation:
"As many of you may already know, our candidates from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Haiti will not be taking part in the 9th edition of Mister International which is taking place in Seoul, Korea. Due to reasons beyond our control and the fault of the organizers in Korea, our 3 candidates, who are ready for the competition, have been forced - along with many other candidates - to skip this year's competition and must therefore remain in their countries. We wish the Mister International Organization the best n this edition and we wish to apologize to our candidates, their families, friends, fans and sponsors. We promise that we will be considering other options for our boys including a possible participation in the 10th edition of the pageant. We will analyze those options. The organizers in Korea have lost all our respect and we hope that
the Mister International Organization will move out of Korea as soon as possible."
the Mister International Organization will move out of Korea as soon as possible."
A reliable source also notified me that Slovenia's delegate, Mitja Nadizar, arrived two days before the finals which is scheduled on February 12th, and that Sim's organization had paid for Nadizar's airfare. The organization also allegedly paid for the airfares of the candidates from Guam, Argentina, Poland and Puerto Rico - which alarmed other directors whose delegates were not given preferential treatment. I am sure this is just the beginning of a much larger story behind Sim's troubled organization and pageant, which considers itself to be the male version of Miss Universe.
By Rafa Delfin
***Update: Feb. 11, 2015, 6:05 AM (Boston time) - From Alan Sim's Facebook page:
A reader just e-mailed me and said that it was Mr. Slovenia's parents who paid for his airfare. Ahhhh... The advantages of blogging over print. You can always edit anytime! Sim might find this all amusing, but I doubt very much if he'll have the last laugh, especially how he enraged many national directors. And instead of original 60+ countries that were supposed to compete this year, the number drastically dropped to 29! No amount of bullshit excuse(s) can cover up Sim and his cohorts' fraudulent intentions.
***Update: Feb. 11, 2015, 8:37 PM (Boston time)
On his website, Belleza Venezolana, Venezuela's director Julio Matute Rodriguez posted an e-mail that Alan Sim had sent to all national directors in which Sim states that his organization will be "proceeding legal actions" against the Korean organizers for failing to fulfill their obligations, which included providing airline tickets to all directors. One wonders how Sim and his organization will be able to afford legal action since he is allegedly bankrupt.
Rodriguez explains that out of the 31 candidates who withdrew, four never officially registered (Fiji, Guatemala, Portugal and Tonga), while four others failed to arrive due to visa problems (Cambodia, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria). Seven candidates withdrew because of the numerous date changes of the pageant (New Zealand, Switzerland, Vietnam, Germany, Peru, Macau and Latvia), and thirteen did not arrive in Seoul because they had never received their airline tickets as promised to them by the Korean organizers since September 26th last year. The countries affected by the missing tickets were Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Spain, France, Haiti, Honduras, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela. The delegates from Slovenia and Puerto Rico, who also had ticket problems. arrived in Korea barely two days ago because they had decided to buy new airline tickets at the last minute.
Argentina's delegate, Daniel Cajiao, who had arrived in Seoul over a week ago, decided to withdrew officially from the competition last Monday. Meanwhile, Belgium's Fabio Ronti declined to compete for health reasons, and the U.S. representative Andrew Caban did not arrive either for unknown reasons.
Directors and delegates express their anger, frustration and disappointment. Chile's national director, Felipe Toledo Gaete, outlined his complaints: repeated breaches in the committed dates for the arrival, finals and departure of Mr. Chile 2014; lack of information and itinerary; failure to provide airline tickets due to constant date changes on the part of the Mister Korea organization; failure to fulfill the contract which stipulates that the candidates would be lodged in 5-star hotels, would be taken to a city tour, be given gym privileges, and be provided with meals paid by the Mister International organization; lack of veracity in the information sent to all national directors; distrust towards the Mister Korea organization as far as providing basic hospitality towards Mr. Chile.
Mr. Netherlands, Michael Glenn, posted the following status on his Facebook page, accusing the organizers of lying to him:
![]()
Costa Rica's national director, Enrique Gonzalez, on his Facebook page, wrote:
![]()
My translation : "Number of countries duped by Mister International, were charged with franchise fees, and who had their airline tickets - lost the tickets - because of the dirty trick that the director (Sim) played on a number of friends from other countries. It's sad how Mr. Alan Sim dropped his pageant and made enemies with many individuals who supported him, including Costa Rica!"
And earlier today, he posted that Alan Sim is playing Russian roulette and believes that Sim's pageant is on the brink of falling apart, despite Sim's latest announcement that "the Mister Singapore Organization is now officially known as Mister International Organization!". Gonzalez refutes Alan Sim's claim that Mister International organization is not responsible for the contestants' airline tickets.
![]()
***Update: Feb. 11, 2015, 8:37 PM (Boston time)
On his website, Belleza Venezolana, Venezuela's director Julio Matute Rodriguez posted an e-mail that Alan Sim had sent to all national directors in which Sim states that his organization will be "proceeding legal actions" against the Korean organizers for failing to fulfill their obligations, which included providing airline tickets to all directors. One wonders how Sim and his organization will be able to afford legal action since he is allegedly bankrupt.
Rodriguez explains that out of the 31 candidates who withdrew, four never officially registered (Fiji, Guatemala, Portugal and Tonga), while four others failed to arrive due to visa problems (Cambodia, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Nigeria). Seven candidates withdrew because of the numerous date changes of the pageant (New Zealand, Switzerland, Vietnam, Germany, Peru, Macau and Latvia), and thirteen did not arrive in Seoul because they had never received their airline tickets as promised to them by the Korean organizers since September 26th last year. The countries affected by the missing tickets were Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Spain, France, Haiti, Honduras, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Panama and Venezuela. The delegates from Slovenia and Puerto Rico, who also had ticket problems. arrived in Korea barely two days ago because they had decided to buy new airline tickets at the last minute.
Argentina's delegate, Daniel Cajiao, who had arrived in Seoul over a week ago, decided to withdrew officially from the competition last Monday. Meanwhile, Belgium's Fabio Ronti declined to compete for health reasons, and the U.S. representative Andrew Caban did not arrive either for unknown reasons.
Directors and delegates express their anger, frustration and disappointment. Chile's national director, Felipe Toledo Gaete, outlined his complaints: repeated breaches in the committed dates for the arrival, finals and departure of Mr. Chile 2014; lack of information and itinerary; failure to provide airline tickets due to constant date changes on the part of the Mister Korea organization; failure to fulfill the contract which stipulates that the candidates would be lodged in 5-star hotels, would be taken to a city tour, be given gym privileges, and be provided with meals paid by the Mister International organization; lack of veracity in the information sent to all national directors; distrust towards the Mister Korea organization as far as providing basic hospitality towards Mr. Chile.
Mr. Netherlands, Michael Glenn, posted the following status on his Facebook page, accusing the organizers of lying to him:
Costa Rica's national director, Enrique Gonzalez, on his Facebook page, wrote:
My translation : "Number of countries duped by Mister International, were charged with franchise fees, and who had their airline tickets - lost the tickets - because of the dirty trick that the director (Sim) played on a number of friends from other countries. It's sad how Mr. Alan Sim dropped his pageant and made enemies with many individuals who supported him, including Costa Rica!"
And earlier today, he posted that Alan Sim is playing Russian roulette and believes that Sim's pageant is on the brink of falling apart, despite Sim's latest announcement that "the Mister Singapore Organization is now officially known as Mister International Organization!". Gonzalez refutes Alan Sim's claim that Mister International organization is not responsible for the contestants' airline tickets.
