Miss Universe on Gitmo: "So calm and beautiful ... I did not want to leave."

[rabs]

Saw this couple/three days ago and since it has not shown up, thought I would post. In a way it is sort of funny, but sad too. It's been causing a flap in Venezuela the past few days and it went around the world. Her remarks were on her blog but they were taken down very quickly. NYT link in story below has complete remarks.

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/04/guantanamo-so-c.html

Venezuela is known for its "beauty factories" where young girls are chosen to be future beauty queens. But apparently intelligence is not high on the list of charms and qualities they must hone. There was another one several years back who said, during the questioning part of a contest, "I love the music of William Shakespeare."

[Judi Lynn]

1. I'm dyin' here! This is unbelievable.

I wonder if she was able to find the right accessories for her orange jumpsuit! Maybe when they put her in a cage they threw in a copy of Vogue, and a good water, and a sequined mask to keep the lights out so she could get some sleep.

You have to wonder if she even knows what Guantanamo is!

As for the music of William Shakespeare, it's just slightly better than his amazing painting! Yikes!

Have heard Venezuela has the largest bunch of beauty queens, for some reason, like it's an obsession there. This reminds one of the American South where they start their little girls out almost as babies entering beauty contests.

A Miss Bolivia wanted to inform the world that in Bolivia not every woman is small, dark, and Indian-looking. She wanted to tell everyone there are tall, blond, slender, beautiful (presumably like her) Bolivians, as well. What a gift to the world is someone as intenlligent, considerate and loving as that one! <cough, cough>

[rabs]

8. Was curious about what Miss USA thought about Gitmo visit

But found only remarks she made before the visit. Nothing after the trip; suspect that because of the flap Miss Universe raised, the Miss USA honchos told Miss USA to keep her mouth shut and her fingers off the keyboard.

She was taking it as "a retreat" with no cell phones and no internet. How nice, just like the prisoners.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miami and Gitmo

The highlight of my week was walking in Miami Fashion week. I always enjoy going to Miami. Dayana and I walked in a show for a Venezuelan designer who had the most beautiful gowns! Now we are off to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We will be on a USO tour. There will be no cell phones and no internet. We are both taking this as a retreat. We will enjoy our time with the troops while taking a break from the addictions of technology. I hope I do not drive myself crazy:). Can't wait to let you guys know how it goes.... Until next time, Crystle


Posted by Crystle

--------------------------

http://www.missusa.com/missusa/blog.php?subaction=showfull&id=1237578830&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

[Judi Lynn]

9. After more searching, finally found an Independent article:

My tour of 'beautiful' Guantanamo Bay, by Miss Universe

By Claire Soares, Deputy Foreign Editor
Wednesday, 1 April 2009

Wishing for world peace is so passé; nowadays Miss Universe can be found blogging about Guantanamo Bay.

"I didn't want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful," Dayana Mendoza gushed at the end of a five-day trip. It may not be a sentiment that Binyam Mohamed would share about his time at the US base in Cuba, but then he wasn't buying souvenir necklaces to take home at the end of his four years of incarceration.

Ms Mendoza, a Venezuelan model, was crowned Miss Universe last summer. Since then, she has clocked up stops in Indonesia, Spain, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. "This week, Guantanamo!!!" she trumpeted on her blog.

Her visit to the base was designed as a morale-boosting treat for troops. "The first thing we did was attend a big lunch and then we visited one of the bars they have in the base. We talked about Gitmo and what it was like living there," wrote Ms Mendoza.

Other highlights included meeting the military dogs – who "did a very nice demonstration of their skills" – and a first-hand look at the detainee camps with their orange jump-suited inmates. "We saw the jails, where they shower, how they recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books," she said. "It was very interesting."

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/my-tour-of-beautiful-guantanamo-bay-by-miss-universe-16

(Oh, my god.)

[EFerrari]

2. I've been trying to figure out who her parents are but maybe they've divorced her.

lol

She claims she was "discovered" at a bus stop when she was 13. This is what happens when you allow infrastructure to go to pot. :)

[Judi Lynn]

3. Maybe Miss Teen South Carolina 2007 can create a map so other hopefuls can find their way

to that same bus stop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

It could be her parents moved to Miami without telling her.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Here's more of what Mendoza said about Guantanamo:

Give Obama some time: Chavez

~snip~
In her post on the pageant’s website, Mendoza recounted in glowing terms her recent trip to the notorious US military base at Guantanamo Bay, which her president considers to be an illegal entity that must be returned to Cuba.

Mendoza described how she "visited the Detainees camps" and "saw the jails, where they shower, how they recreate themselves with movies, classes of art, books. It was very interesting." She goes on to say her tour was "a loooot of fun!" and that "I didn’t want to leave, it was such a relaxing place, so calm and beautiful."

http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=2575&cat=2

[Judi Lynn]

5. UPI headline: Commander defends Miss USA Gitmo visit

Commander defends Miss USA Gitmo visit

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, April 4 (UPI) -- The commander of the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says Miss Universe and Miss USA visited the camp for the benefit of troops stationed there.

"They were on tour to say `hello and thank you' to the guard force," Navy Rear Adm. David M. Thomas Jr. told The Miami Herald.

Crystle Stewart, Miss USA, and Miss Universe, Dayana Mendoza, of Venezuela were at the camp from March 21 through March 24 on a trip arranged by the USO, which provides entertainment for the U.S. military. Critics said the camp violated the Geneva Conventions ban on allowing detainees to be an object of "public curiosity" by allowing the two beauty queens to see a prisoner compound.

Mendoza wrote about Guantanamo in her blog, describing the water in the bay as "sooo beautiful" and the camp as "very interesting."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/04/Commander-defends-Miss-USA-Gitmo-visit/UPI-29091238822996/

[rabs]

6. Wondering about the source (UPI) for this story

UPI years ago stopped being a viable new agency after it was purchased by the Moonies. For it to be claiming that it has a bureau or reporters at Guantanamo Bay is misleading. Obvious this story was picked up from another source.
-------------------------------

By 2007, UPI, which once had 6000 employees in 223 news and picture bureaus around the world, thousands of nonstaff “stringers,” and 7,500 customers in 100 countries, had fewer than 50 employees. In August 2007, the company reduced that number further, and currently has only five reporters in its Washington D. C. headquarters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Press_International

[Judi Lynn]

7. After looking at the Wiki., seeing the numbers, one has to wonder how they DID get the story.

Maybe, since they're clearly not a normal news service after beeing "Mooned," they only have offices in places of most interests to right-wing organizations. They are almost completely out of employees, however!

That information was probably handed to them by a Navy employee who handles their official bulletins, etc. and they sent it along as their own. It may be standard operations by now, just printing whatever they're given by government employees!

The Wiki. you posted was helpful. It's easy to see from this vantage point where it all started going south for them, when they were making less than 1/2 the profit AP was getting for the same, or LESS work. Crazy. If that hadn't happened, they probably wouldn't have been so bad off they would have had to sell to the Moonies.