Paul del Rio is a Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n sculptor and painter. Paul del Rio combines modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

, cubism

Cubism

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...

 and surrealism

Surrealism

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 to create enigmatic paintings that are usually a social commentary on the harshness of modern urban life for ordinary people, and their longing for a different life. Originally from Spain, his parents were exiled to France after the fall of the republic and then immigrated to La Habana, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 where he was born with the name Máximo Canales. His family moved once more to Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, the capital of Venezuela his first year.

The Revolutionary

It was not as an artist however, but as a revolutionary that Paul del Rio (as Canales) first gained fame. On the night of August 24, 1963, at the age of 19 as a leader of a Venezuelan revolutionary group the Armed Forces of National Liberation, Paul del Rio kidnapped famed Argentine football (soccer) player Alfredo Di Stéfano

Alfredo Di Stéfano

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé, born into a family of Italian immigrants from Capri, is a former Argentinian footballer and coach, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time...

 at gunpoint for three days from the Potomac Hotel in Caracas while his team, Real Madrid

Real Madrid

Real Madrid Club de Fútbol , commonly known as Real Madrid, is a professional football club based in Madrid, Spain. The club have won a record 31 La Liga titles, the Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , 18 Copas del Rey, 8 Spanish Super Cups, 1 Copa Eva Duarte and 1 Copa de la...

, were on a pre-season tour of South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The kidnapping was codenamed "Julian Grimau", after the Spanish communist Julián Grimau

Julián Grimau

Julián Grimau García was a Spanish Communist member.-Political activities:Initially active in the Federal Republican Party and the Republican Left, he joined the Communist Party of Spain upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Grimau spent the war years in Barcelona, where his father had been...

 García killed by firing squad in April. Di Stefano was released unharmed two days later without ransom close to the Spanish embassy. A Spanish movie entitled "Real, La Película" ("Real, The Movie

Real, The Movie

Real, The Movie is a movie about the Spanish football club Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, produced by the same club and directed by film director Borja Manso...

") which recounted these events was released in August 25, 2005. In a bizarre publicity stunt at the premiere, both kidnapper, now a famous artist, and soccer player were reunited for the first time in 42 years since the abduction.

The FALN was attempting to emulate Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

's anti-imperialist overthrow in Cuba. Previous to the Di Stéfano kidnapping, the revolutionary group had seized a Venezuelan cargo ship Anzoategui in February. Other terrorist activities attributed to the FALN, including an assassination attempt on Betancourt were also reported.

The Artist

In 1966, Paul del Rio began to make political cartoons under the pseudonym "URBA", and gradually began to find alternate means of expressing his political views through art. In 1975, he recovered his Venezuelan nationality which had been stripped from his entire family by President Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...

 (administration 1959-1964). The gallery Viva Mexico was the first gallery to successfully exhibit his work.

From 1974 to 1993, Paul del Rio exhibited his work in several exhibitions in Spain, Mexico, Finland, Japan, Romania, Colombia, Germany, Canada and Austria. During this period, in 1979 he joined the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

.

In 2000, Paul del Rio designed his bronze sculpture "Mano Mineral" ("Mineral Hand") for the Orden Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso (Order of Juan Pablo Perez Alfonso), the Venezuelan award of state given to those who contribute to works related to mining, hydrocarbons (petroleum) and energy. The Venezuelan Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso was the founder of OPEC

OPEC

OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

, an idea he conceived while exiled in the United States during his review of the Texas Railroad Commission. Mano Mineral can be seen outside the OPEC building in Vienna, donated by the Government of Venezuela to the City of Vienna in 2003. The sculpture symbolizes the oil that emerges from that country. 2.20 metres high, it is a casting of the emblem of the Second Summit of Heads of State and Government of OPEC Member Countries, which Venezuela hosted in Caracas on September 27–28, 2000. A copy was also unveiled in May 2003 as a monument in Caracas, named "Monumento a La Paz" ("Monument for Peace").

External links

Celarg Foundation http://av.celarg.org.ve/Coleccion/PaulDelRio.htm

ESPN Soccernet "The Kidnap of Di Stefano" by Jon Carter, August 25, 2011 http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story/_/id/947053/rewind-to-1963:-the-kidnap-of-alfredo-di-stefano?cc=5901

2008 Interview (in Spanish) http://icr2021.blogspot.com/2008/09/pal-del-ro.html

1998 Venezuelan Congress decree for the Order of Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo http://webspace.webring.com/people/we/emlynccs/Legislaciones/Juan_Pablo_Perez_Alfonso.pdf

2004 example of political activism (in Spanish) http://www.voltairenet.org/article120763.html

OPEC Bulletin, Volume XXXX, No. 7, page 5 http://www.opec.org/opec_web/static_files_project/media/downloads/publications/OB10_112009.pdf

Center for Contemporary Arts (in Spanish) http://www.centrodeartecontemporaneo.com/readings.php?reading=10