http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/petition.html

oh stupid man! he's an artist gone mad!

hala, grabe wawa naman... :(

naku sis! spread the word!!! sobrang kawawa talaga the dog! ;(

did not compose the following letter. I believe it was composed by a British artist. I am reposting it and encourage you to examine it and do something about it. Read on, as more information follows the letter.

EXHIBITION IS TAKING PLACE AT:

info@madc.ac.cr

Centro Nacional de la Cultura
Antigua Fábrica Nacional de Licores.
Avenida 3, calle 15/17. San José, Costa Rica.
Teléfono: (506) 257 7202 / 257 9370
Fax: (506) 257 8702

SAMPLE LETTER TO SEND THE GALLERY:

I am writing regarding the horrifying actions of Guillermo Habacuc Vargas, who paid local children to catch a dog on the street and then confined, starved and publicly displayed the dog as an "art" exhibit until the innocent animal died of starvation.

I, along with many people worldwide, am outraged that Guillermo Habacuc Vargas has been selected to represent Costa Rica in "Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008.” This man is by no definition of the word an artist. He is a criminally insane sadist and enjoys inflicting prolonged suffering upon his innocent victims. He is a danger to all of society, as it is well-documented that those with the capacity to intentionally cause harm to an animal have the same capacity to harm humans. To state that this animal would have died eventually of natural causes is unjustifiable and defies logical, rational thought.

To allow Guillermo Habacuc Vargas to represent Costa Rica in Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008 will in no way benefit Costa Rica. The world is watching, and the actions of this so-called artist have brought many negative assumptions as to the humanity of the people of Costa Rica. The fact that many witnesses of this animal’s suffering did nothing, and that the organizers of this event allowed this to happen, rather than taking action to see that Guillermo Vargas be criminally charged with animal abuse, is sending the world a message that Costa Rica is a cruel, uncivilized society that has no regard for life, but enjoys viewing and contributing to the loss of life.

Each and every person who knew of and witnessed the suffering of this innocent dog is guilty of causing its unnecessary death. To let this crime go unpunished, and instead to reward Guillermo Vargas by choosing him to represent Costa Rica in Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008 is unacceptable and shameful, not only to Costa Rica but to all participants in this event.

I urge you, do not condone the heinous actions of Guillermo Vargas by allowing him to participation in Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008. He should be jailed and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for this animal’s death, and should not be allowed to represent Costa Rica as an artist, for to refer to him as such is an insult to all true artists.

Sincerely,

Your Name

ANOTHER GALLERY SHOWING HIS WORK:
This is the email address to a gallery which currently holds some of Vargas' work for display and sale. If anyone would like to ask the gallery to drop him from their list of artists the email address is below.

Email address: info@jacobkarpio-galeria.com

INFORMATION ABOUT EXHIBIT
What he says on his blog (translated):

I knew the dog died on the following day from lack of food. During the inauguration, I knew that the dog was persecuted in the evening between the houses of aluminum and cardboard in a district of Managua. 5 children who helped to capture the dog received 10 bonds of córdobas for their assistance. During the exhibition some people requested the freedom of the small dog, which the artist refused. The name of the dog was Natividad, and I let him die of hunger in the sight of everyone, as if the death of a poor dog was a shameless media show in which nobody does anything but to applaud or to watch disturbed. In the place that the dog was exposed remain a metal cable and a cord. The dog was extremely ill and did not want to eat, so in natural surroundings it would have died anyway; thus they are all poor dogs: sooner or later they die or are killed.

VIEW AND SIGN THIS PETITION: http://www.petitiononline.com/13031953/petition.html

HERE IS HIS MYSPACE PAGE (Guillermo Habacuc Vargas): http://www.myspace.com/casitadetentaciones

This has been confirmed by WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals). Please see their response below-

Thank you for contacting the WSPA regarding the issue of this artist in Central America.

The WSPA is well aware of this situation. It does appear that the facts have been misconstrued in some news articles, however. The artist is Costa Rican, and this one-time exhibit happened in a Nicaraguan art gallery last October. It involved one dog, and this dog was not replaced by another after it had died. While there is an animal cruelty law in Costa Rica, there is no such legislation in Nicaragua; so unfortunately the artist did not break the law by mistreating this dog. As far as we are aware, he is not planning on doing this exact same thing again, but the controversy now lies in the fact that he has been chosen to represent Costa Rica at the Central American Biennial, set to take place in Honduras this year, with an exhibit apparently not involving a dog this time.

The news of the exhibit did not seem to get picked up by the Costa Rican press until about a month after it happened. Even then there was very little coverage and it was never made clear whether the dog actually died, how long it was there and why nobody did anything if it was suffering. Following this, people around the world began protesting against Vargas, and our Costa Rica office issued a statement in response to this act. A member society of ours in Honduras (AHPRA) also took action and wrote a statement which was sent to the appropriate authorities in Honduras.

The WSPA Costa Rica office has also contacted the Ministry of Art and Culture, to urge them to consider disallowing Vargas from representing Costa Rica at the Central American Biennial. The response was that since Vargas was participating at the Biennial with a different exhibit, they could not ban him from attending.

This issue is of concern to the WSPA, and it is unfortunate that this artist will be able to gain publicity through this second exhibition despite his previous display involving mistreatment of this dog. The WSPA is completely opposed to the use of animals for entertainment purposes. Despite this, it seems that there is little more that can be done to address this issue, and as we have very limited resources, we must direct them where we can most effectively promote animal welfare. We will, however, continue to monitor the situation in case further action can be taken at any time.
Last updated: 14 April 2008

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/vargas.asp