This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection.
Andrés Rábago, also known as OPS or El Roto, is a Spanish cartoonist who focused on social satire and critiques of current events. In his book of cartoons, Mitos, Ritos y Delitos en el Pais de Silencio, Rábago seeks to illuminate the evils he sees in a culture of silence. Focusing on politics and religion, he highlights corruption in the church and government as well as depicting people’s inability to listen to anyone but themselves. Although he focuses on current politics, he also tries to depict a larger sense of the ills of society and encourage people to discover their own political views. Rábago seeks to highlight issues that aren’t being addressed adequately, especially those about the dominating political and economic powers.
Rábago has published several collections of cartoons as well as contributing to the newspaper El País, and having gallery exhibitions of his work. Mitos, Ritos y Delitos is a collection that only includes pictures, although many of his cartoons also include captions and words. The powerful images cross cultural lines and explain the negative aspects of many societies. Using cartoons and illustrations as his tool for opening a dialog, Rábago has been one of the most successful satirical critics in the Spanish press.
Several other works by Rábago available at Widener Library such as El Roto : el pabellón de azogue and La carne es yerba by Manuel Vicent ; ilustraciones de Ops. Mitos, Ritos y Delitos en el Pais de Silencio can be found in Widener’s collection as well.
Thanks to Emma Clement, Santo Domingo Library Assistant, for contributing this post.