Salvadoran Performance Artist Risks Prison For Eating His Voting Ballot

On March 9, during the general election in San Salvador, Víctor “Crack” Rodríguez walked into a polling station, stated “this is an artist action,” and then ate half of his voting ballot before casting the second half, Hyperallergic.com reports. The video of the performance went viral in hours, but it didn’t go down well with the authorities, who accuse the artist of electoral fraud, a crime punishable by up to six years in prison.

Rodríguez told Hyperallergic he was “prepared for the worst.” The Salvadoran artistic community has reacted with incredulity as the government’s inflexible stance. Some of his collaborators have started a petition in support of the artist and hope to be able to prove his act was an artistic gesture and not a crime.

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