Tintin Forums

Hello Everyone,

I've been studying the Cuban Revolution for a research report lately, and I've noticed that there are plenty of similarities between the Cuban Revolution and the plot of Tintin and the Picaros.

Examples:

General Tapioca reminds me of Fulgencio Batista.
Then of course Alcazar is Fidel Castro. (Just look at his big cigar and his outfit!)
I guess Tintin would be Che Guevara, I mean he kind of plans out the way Alcazar will overthrow Tapioca.
And how Alcazar takes over with so few guerrillas.
And also how many of the people hate Tapioca so much.

Does any one else see any other similarities?
And do you think Herge wrote the book with that particular revolution in mind? (I believe It was published after Fidel Castro took over.)

Adieu,
Gabe

Well the Cuban coup was sort of a standard formula for such actions, so it could have been based upon it or any number of coups that have taken place across the world.

R

Whilst I'm sure that jockosjungle is right that many features of the Cuban revolution are shared by other coups and revolutions around the world, I do agree with Gabe that Alcazar's coup takes some inspiration Cuba and Castro. At the very least, it certainly seems more inspired by Latin American situations than by coups and revolutions on other continents.

According to Harry Thompson's book TINTIN - Hergé and his creation, Hergé based the plot of Tintin and the Picaros on a real event, the Régis Debray affair, which involved a French writer being imprisoned in Bolivia after being wrongly accused of helping Che Guevara. So there is a link at least to Castro's right-hand man in the Cuban revolution. And, according to Harry Thompson, the Picaros were based on the Tupamaros, an Indian tribe which helped Castro to power in Cuba - giving us a more direct link to that revolution/coup. This latter link by Harry Thompson seems slightly confused to me though, as the Picaros don't really look like they're formed from a tribe of Indians, and the actual Indian tribe in Tntin and the Picaros - the Arumbayas - play no direct part in the coup against Tapioca (although they are friendly to Alcazar and his men).

In any case, I agree that Alcazar has quite a bit of Castro about him - the cigar, the functional khaki uniform, the cap - with something of Che (the long hair) thrown into the mix. Admittedly, Alcazar's a good bit less youthful than Che, but he's come a long way from the slightly-portly tin-pot general that he was in The Broken Ear!

There are well known photos and film of Che leading his men through the jungle of Bolivia, which I'd guess Hergé - who clearly took a great interest in contemporary photojournalism - would have known from TV documentaries or magazine articles, and which look a lot like Alcazar and his Picaros.

Thank you, I kept hearing about that in books about Tintin but never what actually happend! I also agree that the General is much better off in his Castroesque incarnation!

Oh... I see what happened. I thought Herge had visualized the EDSA People Power 1 that happened from February 22-25 (same date as printed at "Tintin and the Picaros"), 1986 in the Philippines. We had a cigar puffer (then) General Fidel V. Ramos who was considered one-of-the-heels of this "yellow revolution" and the former journalist, the late Benigno Aquino Jr. who fought against the dictating President, former soldier Ferdinand Marcos.

I wouldn't really agree that Tintin is like Che Guevara, they're both fairly different, and he's definitely not a communist, lol.

Yeah, there is a lot of contradiction in that Alcazar (in Picaros, in Broken Ear I think he's more Juan Peron) is modeled after Communist Castro but backed by capitalist companys and aided by the definately not Communist Tintin. While we're on this subject has anyone seen the 1971 Woody Allan film Banana's? It bears a stricking similarity to Picaros in it's satirization of the Cuban Revolution.