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
- Made by
- El Centinela, Paraguayan army newspaper; artist not identified
- Region
- Latin America
- Country
- Paraguay
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Lopez Government
- Leader
- Francisco Solano Lopez
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity
- Event
- Paraguayan War
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, 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
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]
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.
