Miss Universe's blog posting about having fun at Guantanamo Bay has vanished from the pageant's Web site as embarrassed officials try to quash what they call a misunderstanding. A flurry of critical commentary and news stories over the Venezuelan beauty queen's lighthearted post underscores that the military prison at Guantanamo remains a damaging symbol for the United States. Dayana Mendoza's now-deleted late-March posting sounded like a note home from a spring breaker. “We hung out with the guys from the East Coast and they showed us the boat inside and out, how they work and what they do, we took a ride around the land and it was a loooot of fun!” Mendoza wrote. “The water in Guantanamo Bay is soooo beautiful!” she wrote at another point. Those descriptions did not refer to the detention center for alleged terrorists, which occupies a sliver of the 45-square-mile (116-square-kilometer) base. In place of her posting Wednesday was a statement from Paula M. Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, who said Mendoza and Miss USA Crystle Stewart had gone to Guantanamo on a USO tour to boost the morale of US troops.
