At a custom clothing shop in Manhattan earlier this year, Sheynnis Palacios was getting measured for new clothes. Miss Universe, after all, always needs fresh outfits.

For the inside of her bespoke jacket, she asked for a sewed sketch of a mouse — a tribute to a nickname given to her by her late great-grandfather because she loved sneaking cheese from the refrigerator. She also wanted the suit to have blue and white fringe.

“It’s for my country,” she told Ksenia Konovalova, the clothier. “The flag.”

As the two women chatted about different styles of jackets, Ms. Konovalova asked Ms. Palacios if she was still based in Nicaragua. The room fell awkwardly silent. Finally, a Miss Universe assistant stepped in to say that Ms. Palacios lived in New York as part of her duties.

Normally, a Miss Universe crown is a cause for celebration in a country. When Ms. Palacios won, it was the first time a contestant from Nicaragua, a country of seven million people, had claimed the crown.

Instantly, the 24-year-old from humble beginnings became a hero in her homeland as people celebrated her in Nicaragua’s streets, singing the national anthem and waving the country’s flag.

But things quickly got complicated.

The authoritarian Nicaraguan government of President Daniel Ortega went from initially applauding Ms. Palacios’ win to cracking down on those who supported her, including arresting family members of the director of the Miss Nicaragua contest, which had selected Ms. Palacios to represent the country at the global competition.