Translated via Ottotrans™, and here’s the original Spanish report to prove that I am not making this shit up. I promise I’m not. It’s word for word. Enjoy, gentle reader.
YVKE World: International
“It was an incredible trip”
YVKE Web Press / Agencies
Tuesday March 31, 2009. 3:30pm
On her web page, Mendoza explained that both beauty queens visited the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba on Friday March 20th in order to greet and entertain the military personnel stationed there.
“It was an incredible experience,” said the Venezuelan. “They (in Guantanamo) knew that Crystle and I were coming to visit and the first thing we did was to sit down to an enormous lunch. Later we went to one of the bars they have there.”
Since the beginning of 2002, the USA has held hundreds of men at Guantanamo, captured in different parts of the world as supposed terrorists and has held them prisoner without trial or appeal. Many of them have been subjected to torture, according to reports from human rights organizations.
Mendoza said that she and her friend talked with Guantanamo personnel “about the base and what life was like there, and in the following days we had a great time, it was a really memorable trip.” The base personnel took the two women on a visit in a ‘boat’, unidentified by Mendoza, and a sightseeing tour that “was a lot of fun.”
“We also saw the military dogs and they gave us a cute demonstration of their obedience”, added Mendoza. “All the army people behaved themselves very well with us”.
“We visited the detention camps and saw the jails, where they bathe, how they are entertained with movies, art classes and books”, she added. “It was very interesting”. The young Venezuelan added that “the water in Guantanamo Bay is sooooo beautiful. It was incredible and we were able to enjoy it for at least an hour.”
UPDATE: The NYT’s lede blog is running the story too. I could have saved myself all that translation bother. Thanks for the link, RB.