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First Person: X-Girls' Trouble in Columbia -- LUXE LIFE EXCLUSIVE
7/17/06
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Monday, July 17, 2006
X-Girls and producer Angela Sampras say, 'God bless the U.S.A.'
Here is the first-hand account of the ‘X-Girls’ detainment in Columbia from producer Angela Sampras (Luxe Life broke the story last week and the follow-up):
“We arrive on Monday, July 3rd in Cali, Columbia. We have huge body guards that escort us to the Intercontinental Hotel. We are told not to leave the hotel and always walk with someone, even in the hotel. The shows aren't until Friday in Bogota and Saturday in Cali, so during the week we fly back and forth from Bogota to Cali to do appearances. We do so much radio, TV and press conferences that The X Girls are in every paper during the week.
The day we arrived in Columbia we were supposed to receive the rest of the money owed to us. But, every day goes by and there is still no money. We are promised it will be the next day, then the next day… Just so you understand, we had done business with these people before in Chile and everything was perfect. The company in Chile is the same company who brought us here to Columbia. The problem is with Juan Miguel, who is with the Columbian company the Chilean people are working with. The guy has an armored, bulletproof Toyota 4Runner, if that gives you any idea what we are dealing with. Juan Miguel will not pay what he owes the Chileans. Of course this is not really our problem, because our contract is with the Chileans.
I tell them there will be ‘NO SHOW’ if we are not paid in full. Remember, they have two sold out shows in outdoor arenas. When the day comes for our first show in Bogota, we still have not been paid. The Chileans have someone fly to meet us with a check but, get this; the check is NOT for the full amount. Since I know we still have one more show to use as collateral, we go ahead and do the show in Bogota.
The next day we fly back to Cali. Both shows are scheduled for 1AM and Juan has promised to give the Chileans the money before the show, after he makes money from the previous night’s show. As our crew is at the venue, setting up for the show, Juan and Nicolas (The Chilean guy) start arguing and yelling. Our guys overhear something about, "The Americans,” and start getting nervous. The call us and say they are having trouble getting back to the hotel, since no one around them speaks English. (We were supposed to have translators the entire time, but they did not come through with this either.) Thankfully, they find a ride back.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for our money. We have our three crew guys stay with us in the hotel lobby for a meeting with Nicolas. He says, “There is no money!” Juan is refusing to pay until after the show. We say ‘NO SHOW’ then. The girls wait nervously to find out what we are going to do. By this time it is midnight. The venue is fifteen minutes away. Nicolas' company, who we have the contract with also tells us not to do the show. They want to be paid by Juan. Of course, they are safe in Chile, but what about us?
When it is fifteen minutes until the stated show time, Nicolas just looks sick. Matt and two of our guys go over to talk with him. Nicolas breaks down and starts crying! A grown man!! This is when we all (X Girls and us) make the decision to do the show. At this point, we do not want the ‘X Show’ to be responsible for any harm to Nicolas. We do this every night at home so we might as well save a life. The show goes fine, but the whole experience is very scary.
The next day we head for the airport, where an entirely different adventure begins…
As everyone is going through immigration and getting in line to board the plane, Matt and I hear Shauna screaming, “Help us!” We walk over to her and all three Playmates/Playboy Bunnies are crying hysterically. They tell us immigration has taken their passports and are not letting them leave the country. At the same time Shakeera and Michelle walk over. They’ve had their passports taken as well. No one around speaks English, but finally a representative from American Airlines comes over to translate. She tells everyone that we are being held back because three of the girls do not have the proper work Visas.
We ask if there is a fee we can pay and just go, but they tell us no. Nicolas says he will contact Juan and have the Visas faxed over, so we go downstairs and wait. Hours go by and nothing… Nicolas' attorney comes to meet us and we are told that Juan was NOT going to fax over the proof of the VISAS until Nicolas signed a statement that Juan did not owe him anymore money! Juan still owed $45,000, PLUS the hotel bill! Then we find out Nicolas' sister is being held at the hotel with a $13,000 bill Juan will not pay until Nicolas signed the papers.
Matt and I go up to the immigration office again to try and work something out. They tell us they will have the police take the three girls, and no one else, to go sign papers and pay a fine. We ask if we can all go, but they say no. This is when we decide to buy plane tickets to Bogota, where the US Embassy is located. We contact them before we got on the plane. All of the girls’ friends and family were calling them as well. Some of the girls and Matt's mother Claudia had spoke to a lady named Leslie who seemed to be helpful. Leslie told us to go to Bogota it would be safer there. Unfortunately Leslie was not the one to come and meet us. It was a man named Ron. He is of no help at all! He pretty much laughs at us. He tells us we all fit right in and look like Colombians!?!? He does tell us that we will have to go to the DAS office in the morning to get a declaration. I see a Sheraton 4 Points Hotel bus drive by and I run out to stop it. Luckily, the Sheraton has rooms available. At the hotel we hire a translator to go with us the next day.
Our translator meets us in the morning and drives us to the DAS office. Four of the girls have to go inside and be interviewed. This of course takes hours! Finally, when they come out we are told we have to pay a fine of $900 cash. (This is a wad of $2.5 million pesos!!) Now, the translator walks with us as we try to find a bank where we can get the cash out. Finally we get the cash and rush to the hotel, then to the airport. By this time we have all missed our flights again! We spend the rest of the day trying to get flights out.
Playboy Lingerie Model, Diana's husband had all ready purchased her another ticket and when she goes to change the time they tell her she has been blacklisted and is not allowed to leave the country. She was NOT on the original list of girls who had to get a declaration. We had been at DAS all day! She goes crazy! A man Nicolas had hired comes and is able to get her cleared. She has to put her hair in a bun, wear her glasses and say she is a tourist. Luckily she makes it through this time. In the meantime, we purchased tickets on another airline who didn't know she was blacklisted. We then get flights for Shauna and Cristal. They make it through this time as well.
Now we are told there are no more flights for Matt, Shakeera, Michelle and myself until Friday! This was Tuesday. We keep going back and fourth to every airline and finally we are able to get a flight the next morning to Miami. The hotel we were previously staying at was booked for a doctor's convention so we have to find another place to stay. Meanwhile, Ron from the US Embassy just says, "Ah that's too bad." He is no help at all!
We end up staying at a cute hotel named "The CAVIAR Hotel" During dinner Michelle starts talking with peopleat the bar. One lady is an attorney in Bogota. We tell her our story and she is “appalled!”
As if all of this wasn’t enough, the next day as we are going through immigration they stop Shakeera because they think her passport isn't real. She argues and finally they let her through.
This is only a portion of everything that happened, but you can tell, it was a NIGHTMARE!!! We are so glad to be back in the states. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!!!!”
'X-Girls' can be seen, safe and sound, at the V Theatre.
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First Person: X-Girls' Trouble in Columbia -- LUXE LIFE EXCLUSIVE
X-Girls and producer Angela Sampras say, 'God bless the U.S.A.'
Here is the first-hand account of the ‘X-Girls’ detainment in Columbia from producer Angela Sampras (Luxe Life broke the story last week and the follow-up):
“We arrive on Monday, July 3rd in Cali, Columbia. We have huge body guards that escort us to the Intercontinental Hotel. We are told not to leave the hotel and always walk with someone, even in the hotel. The shows aren't until Friday in Bogota and Saturday in Cali, so during the week we fly back and forth from Bogota to Cali to do appearances. We do so much radio, TV and press conferences that The X Girls are in every paper during the week.
The day we arrived in Columbia we were supposed to receive the rest of the money owed to us. But, every day goes by and there is still no money. We are promised it will be the next day, then the next day… Just so you understand, we had done business with these people before in Chile and everything was perfect. The company in Chile is the same company who brought us here to Columbia. The problem is with Juan Miguel, who is with the Columbian company the Chilean people are working with. The guy has an armored, bulletproof Toyota 4Runner, if that gives you any idea what we are dealing with. Juan Miguel will not pay what he owes the Chileans. Of course this is not really our problem, because our contract is with the Chileans.
I tell them there will be ‘NO SHOW’ if we are not paid in full. Remember, they have two sold out shows in outdoor arenas. When the day comes for our first show in Bogota, we still have not been paid. The Chileans have someone fly to meet us with a check but, get this; the check is NOT for the full amount. Since I know we still have one more show to use as collateral, we go ahead and do the show in Bogota.
The next day we fly back to Cali. Both shows are scheduled for 1AM and Juan has promised to give the Chileans the money before the show, after he makes money from the previous night’s show. As our crew is at the venue, setting up for the show, Juan and Nicolas (The Chilean guy) start arguing and yelling. Our guys overhear something about, "The Americans,” and start getting nervous. The call us and say they are having trouble getting back to the hotel, since no one around them speaks English. (We were supposed to have translators the entire time, but they did not come through with this either.) Thankfully, they find a ride back.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for our money. We have our three crew guys stay with us in the hotel lobby for a meeting with Nicolas. He says, “There is no money!” Juan is refusing to pay until after the show. We say ‘NO SHOW’ then. The girls wait nervously to find out what we are going to do. By this time it is midnight. The venue is fifteen minutes away. Nicolas' company, who we have the contract with also tells us not to do the show. They want to be paid by Juan. Of course, they are safe in Chile, but what about us?
When it is fifteen minutes until the stated show time, Nicolas just looks sick. Matt and two of our guys go over to talk with him. Nicolas breaks down and starts crying! A grown man!! This is when we all (X Girls and us) make the decision to do the show. At this point, we do not want the ‘X Show’ to be responsible for any harm to Nicolas. We do this every night at home so we might as well save a life. The show goes fine, but the whole experience is very scary.
The next day we head for the airport, where an entirely different adventure begins…
As everyone is going through immigration and getting in line to board the plane, Matt and I hear Shauna screaming, “Help us!” We walk over to her and all three Playmates/Playboy Bunnies are crying hysterically. They tell us immigration has taken their passports and are not letting them leave the country. At the same time Shakeera and Michelle walk over. They’ve had their passports taken as well. No one around speaks English, but finally a representative from American Airlines comes over to translate. She tells everyone that we are being held back because three of the girls do not have the proper work Visas.
We ask if there is a fee we can pay and just go, but they tell us no. Nicolas says he will contact Juan and have the Visas faxed over, so we go downstairs and wait. Hours go by and nothing… Nicolas' attorney comes to meet us and we are told that Juan was NOT going to fax over the proof of the VISAS until Nicolas signed a statement that Juan did not owe him anymore money! Juan still owed $45,000, PLUS the hotel bill! Then we find out Nicolas' sister is being held at the hotel with a $13,000 bill Juan will not pay until Nicolas signed the papers.
Matt and I go up to the immigration office again to try and work something out. They tell us they will have the police take the three girls, and no one else, to go sign papers and pay a fine. We ask if we can all go, but they say no. This is when we decide to buy plane tickets to Bogota, where the US Embassy is located. We contact them before we got on the plane. All of the girls’ friends and family were calling them as well. Some of the girls and Matt's mother Claudia had spoke to a lady named Leslie who seemed to be helpful. Leslie told us to go to Bogota it would be safer there. Unfortunately Leslie was not the one to come and meet us. It was a man named Ron. He is of no help at all! He pretty much laughs at us. He tells us we all fit right in and look like Colombians!?!? He does tell us that we will have to go to the DAS office in the morning to get a declaration. I see a Sheraton 4 Points Hotel bus drive by and I run out to stop it. Luckily, the Sheraton has rooms available. At the hotel we hire a translator to go with us the next day.
Our translator meets us in the morning and drives us to the DAS office. Four of the girls have to go inside and be interviewed. This of course takes hours! Finally, when they come out we are told we have to pay a fine of $900 cash. (This is a wad of $2.5 million pesos!!) Now, the translator walks with us as we try to find a bank where we can get the cash out. Finally we get the cash and rush to the hotel, then to the airport. By this time we have all missed our flights again! We spend the rest of the day trying to get flights out.
Playboy Lingerie Model, Diana's husband had all ready purchased her another ticket and when she goes to change the time they tell her she has been blacklisted and is not allowed to leave the country. She was NOT on the original list of girls who had to get a declaration. We had been at DAS all day! She goes crazy! A man Nicolas had hired comes and is able to get her cleared. She has to put her hair in a bun, wear her glasses and say she is a tourist. Luckily she makes it through this time. In the meantime, we purchased tickets on another airline who didn't know she was blacklisted. We then get flights for Shauna and Cristal. They make it through this time as well.
Now we are told there are no more flights for Matt, Shakeera, Michelle and myself until Friday! This was Tuesday. We keep going back and fourth to every airline and finally we are able to get a flight the next morning to Miami. The hotel we were previously staying at was booked for a doctor's convention so we have to find another place to stay. Meanwhile, Ron from the US Embassy just says, "Ah that's too bad." He is no help at all!
We end up staying at a cute hotel named "The CAVIAR Hotel" During dinner Michelle starts talking with peopleat the bar. One lady is an attorney in Bogota. We tell her our story and she is “appalled!”
As if all of this wasn’t enough, the next day as we are going through immigration they stop Shakeera because they think her passport isn't real. She argues and finally they let her through.
This is only a portion of everything that happened, but you can tell, it was a NIGHTMARE!!! We are so glad to be back in the states. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.!!!!”
'X-Girls' can be seen, safe and sound, at the V Theatre.
robinsvegas at 5:30:00 PM PDT Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
