A Miami man is currently sitting in jail after smashing a $1 million Ai Weiwei (pictured) vase, and being caught on camera in the process! 

Canoe News is reporting that the man -- Dominican-born Maximo Caminero, 51 -- was charged with criminal mischief. Caminero claimed that his action -- picking up one of the 16 brightly-painted vases done by the artist, who is best known for his dissidence of the Chinese government -- was done in protest of the fact that the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) was only showcasing work by "international artists." (Redundant, isn't it?)

When reached by the outlet, Caminero -- who is an artist himself, he claims -- declined to comment on his reasoning for smashing the vase, except to say that he will be hosting a "press conference" on Tuesday of next week to explain his actions (but of course!).

Further, according to The Miami New Times, the vases -- which are said to be over 5,000 years old; Weiwei dipped the vases in brightly colored paint, supposedly to protest the meaning of "identity" and "culture" -- have been on display since the museum first opened. The exhibit was set to close in mid-March. A few comments to the outlet suggest it was humorous that the vases survived thousands of years of Chinese revolution, but couldn't survive a few months in Miami.

(There's another failure on behalf of the state of Florida, says this humble reporter...)

As a political activist, Weiwei has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He has investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of so-called "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, following his arrest at Beijing Capital International Airport on April 3, he was held for 81 days without any official charges being filed; officials alluded to their allegations of "economic crimes".