---
title: Toma! Y qué hacen aquí esos tres? (Look! And What Are These Three Doing Here?), El Centinela cartoon
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/three-apes-el-centinela-1867/
description: A woodcut cartoon from a Paraguayan army newspaper shows three seated or standing apes in braided uniforms, with tails, around a small table holding an…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Toma! Y qué hacen aquí esos tres? (Look! And What Are These Three Doing Here?), El Centinela cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/three-apes-el-centinela-1867.png)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/three-apes-el-centinela-1867.png)

# Toma! Y qué hacen aquí esos tres? (Look! And What Are These Three Doing Here?), El Centinela cartoon

A woodcut cartoon from a Paraguayan army newspaper shows three seated or standing apes in braided uniforms, with tails, around a small table holding an imperial crown. Printed labels name them 'Tamandare', 'El Emperador' and 'Polidoro', and a bold line below jokes that they are the Emperor of Brazil, the Viscount of Tamandare and a marshal 'in secret conference on the war of Paraguay'. The tell is the substitution of ape bodies for the enemy's sovereign and commanders, a loaded label in picture form.

- **Date:** May 9, 1867
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** El Centinela, Paraguayan army newspaper; artist not identified
- **Region:** [Latin America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=latin-america)
- **Country:** [Paraguay](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=paraguay)
- **Medium:** [Cartoon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=cartoon)
- **Issuer type:** [Military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=military)
- **Regime:** [Lopez Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=lopez-government)
- **Leader:** [Francisco Solano Lopez](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=francisco-solano-lopez)
- **Audience:** [Own forces](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=own-forces)
- **Purpose:** [Demonize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=demonize)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity)
- **Event:** [Paraguayan War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=paraguayan-war)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_apes._Paraguayan_army_cartoon.png), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published 1867, before 1931; Commons: PD-old-70-expired, Public Domain Mark 1.0) El Centinela (Paraguay), 9 May 1867, p. 3, via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (Spanish) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Tamandaré.
El Emperador.
Polidoro.

Toma! Y qué hacen aquí esos tres?—Chit! Es el Emperador del Brasil, el Visconde de Tamandaré y el Mariscal Poli[cut off] que están en conferencia secreta sobre la guerra del Paraguay . . . . . . . . . . . ☞ ¡ Monada ! ☜

Tamandaré: V. M. I. conoce el [cut off]
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Tamandaré.
The Emperor.
Polidoro.

Look! And what are these three doing here?—Shh! It is the Emperor of Brazil, the Viscount of Tamandaré and Marshal Poli[cut off] who are in secret conference on the war of Paraguay . . . . . . . . . . . ☞ Monkey business! ☜

Tamandaré: Your Imperial Majesty knows the [cut off]
```

The last line is only partly visible at the lower edge of the hosted crop, and the joke line is truncated at the right edge. 'Monada' means a monkey's trick or a piece of foolishness, a pun on the ape figures.

[← Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) [Das ganze Deutschland soll es sein. Haut sie auf den Chassepot! (German broadsheet song and caricature, Franco-Prussian War) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/das-ganze-deutschland-soll-es-sein-chassepot-1870/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)