27May 2021 The representative for Myanmar at the delayed 2020 Miss Universe pageant has used the competition as a platform to speak out about the military violence in her home country. Taking to the Miss Universe stage in Florida on May 16, Thuzar Wint Lwin wore the traditional dress of Chin women in north-west Myanmar, unfurling a banner that read: “Pray for Myanmar.” On February 1 this year, the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown and detained by military forces, which have since killed more than 800 opponents, according to the advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Thousands more people have been detained or forced to flee their homes as fighting escalates between security forces and opposing activists, who have rallied under the banner of the Chinland Defence Force. The militia have recently retreated from the northwestern town of Mindat, they tell