General Tapioca

General Tapioca is a fictional character from "The Adventures of Tintin" series of classic comic books drawn and written by Hergé. He is the arch-enemy of Tintin's friend General Alcazar.

He and Alcazar are both Generals in the army of the fictional South American Republic of San Theodoros. Both men assume dictatorial leadership of the country with comedic frequency.

The Broken Ear

Tapioca is first mentioned, but not seen, in "The Broken Ear". Tintin had arrived in San Theodoros where his enemies framed him for terrorism. Tintin was sentenced to be shot for plotting against Tapioca who was then in power.

Just as the sentence was about to be carried out it was announced that Tapioca had been overthrown. The soldiers in the firing squad proclaimed their support for Alcazar and Tintin was told that he was free to go. However it then turned out that Tapioca was actually still in power and so the soldiers proclaimed their support for him and Tintin was told that he was to be shot after all. Just as this was about to happen, rebels supporting Alcazar did lead an overthrow of Tapioca.

Alcazar was in charge of the country for the rest of "The Broken Ear", but Tapioca regained control at intervals as shown by Alcazar's exile in "The Seven Crystal Balls" and "The Red Sea Sharks". At the end of the latter book, Alcazar is mentioned in a newspaper clipping as being again dictator of San Theodoros.

Tintin and the Picaros

By the time of "Tintin and the Picaros" however, Tapioca was yet again in charge of the country. He had the support of Borduria, a Stalinist state ruled by Kurvi-Tasch who practiced the policy of Taschism. Tapioca even had his soldiers and officials wear moustaches similar to that of Kurvi-Tasch.

Among the Bordurians sent to help Tapioca was Colonel Esponja (Spanish for "Sponge"), aka Colonel Sponsz, an enemy Tintin had pitted wits with in "The Calculus Affair". Although officially a "technical advisor" to the regime, Esponja/Sponsz practically ran the Interior Ministry and took advantage to settle his personal scores with Tintin and his friends. At the balcony during the carnival, Sponsz can be seen looking at Tapioca with a sneering grin, indicating that the dictator was merely a puppet to the Bordurians.

Described as a tyrant who was cruel and vain, Tapioca even went so far as to rename the capital, Los Dopicos, after himself: Tapiocapolis.

Again facing allegations of a conspiracy on Tapioca's life, Tintin was lured to San Theodoros along with his friends Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus. In fact he had again been framed by an enemy, this time Colonel Sponsz. It is not indicated if Tapioca himself was aware of Sponsz's scheming.

With the support of the International Banana Company, Alcazar led a group of guerrilla fighters called the Picaros to overthrow Tapioca. He countered this by parachuting crates of Loch Lomond whisky into the area, making the rebels too drunk to stage a coup. Loch Lomond also sponsored the annual carnival. (These examples were further criticisms by Hergé on the way big business interferes in the political affairs of nations (see Ideology of Tintin).)

However, Professor Calculus had invented some tablets which put people off alcohol. Thus, dressed in carnival costumes, a sober group of Picaros led by Alcazar, Tintin and Haddock seized the Presidential palace and overthrew Tapioca. Following the coup, Tapioca's officers and soldiers were quick to proclaim their support for Alcazar (like they did in "The Broken Ear").

It was customary is San Theodoros for deposed and captured political rivals to be shot, but in return for curing the Picaros Tintin had insisted that Alcazar mount a bloodless coup. Although dreading the prospect of being shot, Tapioca was just as appalled at the idea of his life being spared, which for him was the height of dishonour. "We live in sad times!" said the equally frustrated Alcazar.

Tapioca was sent into exile. Very likely he set about planning another coup of his own.

Analysis

General Tapioca has been seen as a typical corrupt leader, brought to power by people cleverer than himself, who rule with an iron hand in his name. Like most dictators he is generally indifferent to the conditions of his people while backing his supporters, who later turn against him whenever it suits them. The San Theodoran army has an infinite supply of Colonels who act as aides to other Colonels.

Like most developing world dictatorships the gap between rich and poor is a very large one as shown when Haddock and Calculus arrive in Tapiocapolis and a busy street of modern buildings and sculptures is contrasted to a slum of starving inhabitants, patrolled by indifferent policemen.

However, when Tapioca is deposed, the only major changes in the slums are the policemen's uniforms and the advertising sign which reads "Viva Alcazar" instead of "Viva Tapioca". Hergé's comment appears to be that regimes change but everything else stays the same.

One slight change was that Alcazar renamed the capital Alcazaropolis.