culture

Noriega decal all the rage

Some 5,000 of the stickers bearing the controversial dictator’s likeness have been sold.

Decal creator José Robles claims he’s not a “norieguista,” but a resourceful entrepreneur.

WILLIAMS SALAS/LA PRENSA

a popular face: A sticker depicting the stylized face of former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega is being stuck on windshields of taxis, ‘diablo rojos’ and SUVs, leaving sociologists to ponder the significance of the capital city’s latest pop culture phenomenon.1098672

What little 19-year-old Rubén Miranda knows of his country’s most infamous dictator he learned from his parents, teachers and political chatter on the street. For Miranda, former general Manuel Antonio Noriega, calls up the faded awe and quasi-glory of Panama’s near past.

As the flesh-and-blood Noriega lingers in a Florida prison fighting extradition to France, the formidable essence of the pock-marked military demagogue is being reborn in the stylized image of an “El Tony” sticker that has been showing up on windshields of taxis, ‘diablos rojos’ and fast-food delivery motorcycles all over the capital. Miranda is a member of the growing group of people from mixed social strata proudly displaying one. Taxi driver Joel Delgado, 47, is another.

“If Noriega were in power today, he would do away with the inflated prices of the [basic] food basket. That’s why I want ‘El Man’ back,” he said.

Sociologist Marco A. Gandásegui speculated that the attitude portrayed by Delgado is a clear reflection of the degree of social and economic frustration that exists in some groups. He also felt that the glorification of the former dictator by some older leaders of the transportation system has been adopted by younger newcomers, who associate the military figure with the idea of a more orderly, peaceful society.

“On the one hand, Noriega represents a figure with commercial and economic power,” said Gandásegui, a professor at the Universidad de Panamá. On the other hand, however, he’s a character that reflects social discontent.”

It’s interesting that this resurgence of Noriega’s “popularity” in the form of a sticker is taking place almost 20 years after the invasion in 1989, he added.

Some 5,000 of the Noriega decals have been peddled on the city streets, a phenomenon that has taken its creator José Robles by surprise.

Robles, a 29-year-old computer support technician, claims the idea came to him in April 2007, after one of his customers suggested he take up sign-making because it’s a “sure sale.” About that same time the media had begun to toss around Noriega’s name, since the end of his U.S. prison sentence was fast-approaching.

Contrary to what his artwork may suggest, Robles is not “norieguista,” but a resourceful entrepreneur, who, with business partner Omar Vergara, founded Digital Sign Panama, a company dedicated to making placards, stickers and other computer-based design work.

“I don’t have a military family or within the Policía Nacional,” he insisted. Robles did, however, admit to one distant connection: “My grandfather’s brother, Pocrí Luis Robles, was former President Marcos Robles or Rifle,” he clarified, referring to the country’s leader in 1968 who was deposed in the October 11th military coup led by General Omar Torrijos.

As popular as the Noriega sticker is, Robles indicated that they are not the best-selling of his creations, some of which include depictions of a hibiscus flower, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. He has others of the late General Omar Torrijos Herrera, former president Arnulfo Arias Madrid, Che Guevara and the Blessed Sacrament.

“I do a lot, but they depend on what people request,” he said.

After more than a year of printing the sticker, copycats and variations have appeared on the street.