A statue hidden by the shame of doping

From the summer of 2018 to July of this year, José Carlos Vargas Mendoza secretly had Paolo Guerrero before the eyes of the world.

During all that time, practically waiting between one World Cup and another, he kept him captive under some iron stairs, wrapped in a blanket and bubble wrap.

During that same period, every time Vargas Mendoza appeared on the street, his neighbors tormented him with an innocent question: "And when?"

To get out of the way and not be rude he managed to say "quickly, soon", and he continued on his way.

Only he and a few knew the truth: that tomorrow was uncertain and would probably never come.

Paolo Guerrero is 1.2 meters tall, weighs twelve kilos and is covered in dust.

He is made of polyester resin, although he has a finish that gives the impression at first glance of being made of bronze.

For Peruvians, his imperturbable pose reminds them of a happy scene: the night of October 10, 2017, when the striker won the playoff for Russia 2018 on the last date of the Qualifiers.

He did it with a free kick that, in reality, was the blessing of some pious God: if the Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina did not touch the ball with his fingertips, the goal would have been disallowed, and perhaps Peru, recently eliminated from Qatar 2022, He would have been banished from the World Cups for 44 years.

Guerrero celebrated: he threw some shit at the stands and then kissed the shield, shaking the National Stadium.

That rabid kiss, that telluric moment, has been represented in the statue.

Four years ago, the Paolo Guerrero of flesh and blood also had it in front of him.

In this same house, in Chorrillos, the district facing the Pacific where he grew up before leaving for Bayern Munich at the age of 18, in 2002. Vargas Mendoza, the child's father, enjoys remembering that half-hour visit.

Detail of the sculpture by Paolo Guerrero.Ángela Ponce

“Like everyone else, I was sitting in front of my television, watching the game against Colombia.

That then a few months passed and that he was in my workshop seems surreal to me, ”he says as he brushes the monument.

One among many, in this house-workshop, where more statues live than people.

Guerrero, shy off the pitch, praised his work with an affirmation: "yes, it's me."

Petronila Gonzales, 'Doña Peta', his mother, who accompanied him that day, was more demonstrative: “He is very pretty, young man.

I congratulate him”.

The striker, who these days is giving his last flashes in the Avaí of Brazilian football, learned about the project from Rony Miranda, a cultural manager who thought it was a great idea to pay tribute to the captain who had left us one step away from Russia 2018. It was he who commissioned it from the sculptor José Carlos Vargas Mendoza.

The idea was powerful: they would inaugurate the statue in the National Stadium, in the middle of a crowd.

The original, designed in bronze, would remain there and a replica would be made available to the Municipality of Chorrillos to be installed in a park or square that would surely be renamed with the name of the scorer.

'Peta' agreed.

So much so that she gave her endorsement for her youngest son to send them bare-chested photos so that their countless tattoos could be authentically carved.

No doodles.

Art for your offspring.

The companies, clever at sniffing out opportunities, joined the project.

And of course, Latina, the television channel that had the rights to broadcast the World Cup.

A journalistic team visited Vargas Mendoza's workshop and conducted an interview with him on a live link that sails aimlessly through the Internet.

Everything was going smoothly until a bomb exploded in South America.

In the match against Argentina, the penultimate of the process, Paolo Guerrero was found to have a prohibited and unpronounceable substance in his body: benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of cocaine.

For this reason, FIFA imposed a punishment on him and, with it, placed a stain on his resume forever: he was suspended from practicing sports at a professional level.

In Peru it was not a mess, but a national issue.

For several months it was the most discussed topic on the midday programs, on Sundays and on any corner.

Covers, reports, a podcast, a book and some drums of tears were dedicated to him.

It was a crusade, where those who allowed themselves to doubt their innocence were beaten in more than 280 characters and were even confronted by a mass convinced that an injustice was being committed.

Although he does not say so, Vargas Mendoza was one of the collateral victims of that event.

Suddenly, the sponsors left, no one interviewed him again, and the unveiling of the statue was postponed until further notice.

According to what he says, he only got paid for 65% of his work.

Plaster model of the statue.Ángela Ponce

Some time later there was the possibility of taking the statue to a shopping center to be exhibited, but an accident prevented it.

“In that 2018 I was awarded.

He went through a hecatomb of bad things.

That time the truck crashed and the pedestal where he was going to go broke.

Luckily, because if it hadn't been the end of sculpture”, he recounts, with his reservations of optimism.

Rony Miranda, who paid for part of the monument, communicated with him sporadically until his number no longer appeared on the screen of his cell phone.

He voluntarily winked at the name of his cultural association that sheltered the project: Spera.

Almost five years have passed and Vargas Mendoza, the sculptor, is tired of waiting.

Last July, Keyzzenovich Dávalos, Miranda's former partner, proposed that he inaugurate the statue at Alejandro Villanueva, the Alianza Lima stadium, the club where Paolo Guerrero was trained.

How far had the wheel of fortune turned?

The striker flirted with the possibility of returning to Peru and wearing the blue and white shirt in the last half of 2022 at 38 years old.

But that didn't happen either.

Since then, Vargas Mendoza, from Capricorn as a Warrior, has decided to leave the statue uncovered in the patio next to his workshop.

“I want sculpture to make its way and my workshop is not its way.

I want you to look at it.

I would feel sad if he stayed here for life, ”she laments.

A mayor, who visited him a few months ago, has promised to give him the place he deserves in his district, but caution has taught him some lessons in recent years.

On Wednesday, October 5, the first Peruvian series will be released on Netflix:

, a production that narrates the problem in which Paolo Guerrero was immersed before Russia 2018, the World Cup to which he ended up going by the permission of a Swiss court.

The expectation is immense.

There is only one problem at Vargas Mendoza's house: he does not have Netflix.

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