Secret Service Escort Says US Agents 'Showed No Respect'
Dania Suarez emerges from hiding on Colombia TV, says she fears for her safety.
May 4, 2012 -- One of the Colombian escorts at the center of the Secret Service scandal emerged from hiding today, recounting in detail her night in Cartagena with a member of President Obama's protective detail and saying she fears for her safety.
Dania Suarez, a 24-year old dark-haired beauty, appeared on a call-in show carried by Colombia's W Radio and Carocol Television Friday morning, telling callers the agent was "heavily intoxicated" and everything in his luggage and his papers was left open in his room and could have been easily stolen.
Asked if she had been a spy could she have removed the papers, Suarez said, "Absolutely, absolutely."
"Clearly, in those moments, if I had wanted to, obviously, I could have done so," she said.
Suarez says she met the agent at a disco where they danced and she began to rub her hands over his body.
"He had a weird way of dancing in the disco," she said of the agent, identified in published accounts elsewhere as Arthur Huntington, who has left the Secret Service under circumstances that are unclear.
She said that Huntington did not appear to be searching for a prostitute but that "I found him on my own."
Suarez said that when she left with Huntington, other Americans were still at the disco. "They were drinking excessive alcohol. They were on the bar dancing, and I thought they were crazy."
"They were all drunk," she said. "They bought alcohol like they bought water."
Suarez said Huntington fell asleep when they returned to his room at 1 a.m.
She said he was unwilling to pay her the agreed-upon amount when she left. She refused to confirm or deny that she had sex with him. Asked if he didn't pay "because he did not receive the services he paid for because he fell asleep," she said, "If I answer the question you will know if I did or did not do anything with him."
She said she does not consider herself a prostitute, but an escort because prostitutes "are lower class and live in brothels."
She confirmed other accounts that the agent offered her $30, which led to a confrontation at the agent's door that drew the attention of the hotel manager and local police.
She said the U.S. agents pleaded, "Please, please no police, no police."
"Between all of them, they collected the money ... and that's what happened in the hall," she said. "They were part of Obama's security group and I told them I was going to call the police so they can pay me the money."
Suarez said she left Colombia for a few days because of concerns her life could be in danger and has had no contact with any American official.
"As far as the investigators go, just like the Secret Service agents are dumb, imagine the investigators," she said.
Throughout her appearance this morning, dressed in a skimpy green blouse, Suarez laughed and smiled even as the host reminded her of the seriousness of the scandal.
"This is who I am and all I really care about is my mother and my young son," Suarez said.
She also said that she was with a friend when she first met Huntington in the disco, and that another agent who was with Huntington "fell in love" with her friend, though they did not have sex. "Their love story ended in the bar," she said.
According to Suarez, her friend would like to get back in touch with the other agent.
"My friend would say to me, 'I love that guy, how do I get in contact with him?'"