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| Africa: West |
| Beauty Spurns Bongo |
| 2004-02-04 |
| Peru is investigating claims that a beauty pageant contestant was lured to the West African nation of Gabon to become 67-year-old President Omar Bongo’s lover - and held for nearly two weeks when she refused. It’s another Lifetime Network movie, folks. Ivette Santa Maria, a 22-year-old Miss Peru America contestant, was invited to Gabon to be a hostess for the Miss Humanity pageant, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday. Press reports in Lima said organizers of the purported contest contacted Santa Maria via the Internet. The old beauty contest e-mail scam. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry identified the contest’s alleged organizers as being from Argentina and Switzerland. And she didn’t ask why it was being held in Gabon? Just hours after arriving Jan. 17 in Libreville with her boyfriend, Santa Maria was taken by a Bongo aide to the presidential palace, where Bongo tried to take her to his bedroom and seduce her, the Peruvian daily El Comercio said Wednesday. Other Peruvian press reports recounted similar stories, quoting Santa Maria’s parents. Guess he saw Gadaffi at work and figured he’d give it a try. El Comercio said Santa Maria fled the palace and spent 12 days confined to a Libreville hotel. She was able to leave Gabon only after Interpol and a French anti-prostitution humanitarian aid group intervened. French anti-prostitution humanitarian aid group? Talk about specialized. Santa Maria’s parents contacted Peru’s Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday seeking help, the ministry said. Peru’s U.N. ambassador in New York contacted his Gabonese counterpart "and expressed the Peruvian government’s serious concern over the events," the statement said. In the old days, this would have meant war! Bongo has kept a tight grip on power in this oil-rich former French colony since becoming president in 1967. He has faced similar allegations in the past. In 1995, Italian fashion designer Francesco Smalto testified in Paris that he furnished Bongo with call girls, flying them regularly from France in 1992-1993. So where was the French anti-hooker squad then? Oh, I’ll bet those hookers were government authorized, I missed the part about oil-rich former French colony. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 If you're thinking of your Boy Scout days,Shipman, that dog of song was named B-I-N-G-O. Oh, thank you so verrrry much for the earworm Praise Allah, Leslie Gore has left the Stadium! |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-4 5:38:07 PM |
| #7 "Santa Maria!" -- some spanish guy |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-2-4 4:48:10 PM |
| #6 Wasn't Anna Nicole available? |
| Posted by: Dar 2004-2-4 4:05:56 PM |
| #5 Anyone have Paltrow's e-mail address to give Bongo? |
| Posted by: lil dhimmi (JC) 2004-2-4 3:53:34 PM |
| #4 that dog of song was named B-I-N-G-O. Oh, thank you so verrrry much for the earworm! |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-2-4 3:49:18 PM |
| #3 If you're thinking of your Boy Scout days,Shipman, that dog of song was named B-I-N-G-O. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-2-4 3:29:32 PM |
| #2 Is this about the dawg marriage? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-2-4 3:17:34 PM |
| #1 Smart girl. Didn't want to bonk a Bantu named Bongo. |
| Posted by: Gasse Katze 2004-2-4 3:16:48 PM |