Tag Archives: Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinean Cartoonist Jailed
Image from “This Cartoonist is One Dictator’s Nightmare, And He’s in Jail For It” by Dante Besong and Andy Warner from The Nib.
On September 16, 2017, Ramón Nse Esono Ebale was detained without charge and then accused of “money laundering and counterfeiting.” He was targeted by Equatorial Guinea’s secret police for his political cartoons and graphic novel entiteld Obi’s Nightmare, critiquing the leadership of long-time dicator Obian Nguema.
In Rowan Moore Gerety’s article, “Comics without Captions: Can a cartoonist help unseat a dictator?” he ruminates on Esono’s fate stating that “The sense I’ve gotten is that what the Obiang regime is waiting for is some kind of full-throated apology which even if it isn’t really credible, would at least be viewed as kind of a victory.”
Read more about Ramón Nse Esono Ebale in the following articles:
“A cartoonist out to unseat a dictator is arrested” by Carol Hills from Public Radio International
“Oil, Instagram and the Plunder of Equatorial Guinea” by Lucas Oslo Fernandes from the New York Times
Ramón Esono Ebalé (Jamón y Queso) – Cartel UA
Translation
Cartel: Poster
African youth, let’s fight conflict and work together for Africa’s lasting development.
Ramón Esono Ebalé (Jamón y Queso) – Dictadores
Translation
Text in panel depicting a television: Son of a bitch! Who is that?
Text on flag: Can I vote for another party that isn’t the cockroaches’?
Caption: Houston, we have a problem!
Ramón Esono Ebalé (Jamón y Queso) – Dictator!
Translation
Background text: Dictator! Dictator! Dictator!
President Obiang caricature: Let’s see, a bit of seriousness, please, gentlemen. Do you think that calling me “dictator” is going to change the country? I have/own what the international community is interested in and you come to me saying I’m a dictator? Good God!
Do something more original! At this time, I will organize five more African Union summits, aside from the ones my ass of a son will organize. What a pitiful bunch of people!
Ramón Esono Ebalé (Jamón y Queso) – Paraguayas
Translation
Horizontal Panel 1
Speaker Not Pictured: They say that they’ll be here in the morning. Borris, you sleep with the goods and I’ll take the first shift.
Horizontal Panel 2
Man In Cap: Rubio, I don’t think we need any more people.
Man with Dreadlocks: Yes, chief. Don’t worry. There will be very few of us in Chaco.
Man In Cap: Great. Have my son come by.
Man with Dreadlocks (not pictured): Yes, sir. At your service.
Horizontal Panel 3
Man In Cap: Rodolfo, today I’m not in a hurry. I want you guys to go with the flow.
Ramón Esono Ebalé (Jamón y Queso) – Violencia de Género
Translation
Panel 1
Pedro is a man who has a great, big problem. He doesn’t respect women. . . “They’re the devil,” he says.
Panel 2
Every afternoon, after work, he goes by the bar and has a few beers.
Pedro: That bitch is gonna hear from me.
Panel 3
Upper caption: He’s a calm guy and well educated…
Pedro: That stupid bitch. . .
Lower caption: But he doesn’t like his job much
Panel 4
Pedro: She’s an idiot. I don’t know who she thinks she is but today she’s going to hear from me.
Caption: Deep down, what’s happening with Pedro is that someone much more intelligent than him is living in his house.
Panel 5
Caption on left: We’ll see who wears the pants in this house.
Lower text: The other thing is that Pedro hates going home and having to face that person and he prefers going to the bar to have a good time
Caption on right: She thinks she’s so smart. Today we’ll see about that.
