Miss Universe walks the line on Puerto Rican charm
	26, July 2006 In an interview with a news-agency at a Los Angeles hotel, the fifth Puerto Rican Miss Universe spoke about politics in her native Caribbean territory, her love for the Spanish language, what caused her to faint shortly after the pageant, and rumors - all false, she says - about past cosmetic surgery. Rivera passed out after posing for pictures and taking questions at a news conference. She was given liquids and quickly recovered. The faint, she explained, was caused by the heat, the lights and the emotional rush of learning she was Miss Universe - not a lack of food, as some have speculated. "I eat very well," she said. "My nutritionist ordered me to eat six times a day...What happened was that it was hard to breath and the dress was very tight and weighed a lot." The 18-year-old describes herself as a "boricua" - slang for Puerto Rican - who does not favor statehood or independence for her Caribbean island home, which has been a US Commonwealth since 1952. "I don't go for either stance," said Rivera, who nonetheless defends Puerto Rico's separate status from the US in the Miss Universe competition. "If we were to compete as a normal state of the US you would lose the charm of the beauty of Puerto Rico," she explained. "Puerto Rican beauty...is totally different from American beauty."