Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Panama to discuss the Canal. Amid this high-profile visit, Panamanians have been turning to El Gallinazo, an account that posts satirical takes on the news.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
People pay a lot of attention to which country the U.S. secretary of state visits first. It sends a message. And since President Trump spent a chunk of his inaugural address talking about Panama, we shouldn’t be surprised that Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Panama City last night, less than two weeks after being sworn in. Today he and Panama’s president talked about Trump’s desire to take back the Panama Canal, a canal that Panama insists is not for sale. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED cohost Ari Shapiro is in Panama City. Hey there.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: Let’s start with this meeting. What’s the message that Rubio is trying to send?
SHAPIRO: Well, according to the State Department, Rubio basically gave an ultimatum to President Jose Raul Mulino. Rubio apparently told Mulino that China’s influence over the Panama Canal violates treaties, and Rubio said that unless there are immediate changes, the U.S. will take whatever measures are necessary to protect its rights. To give you just a quick fact-check here, Trump has falsely claimed that Chinese soldiers operate the canal. They don’t. China doesn’t have a military presence here. There are two ports at either end of the canal owned by companies based in Hong Kong. Now, Rubio did not publicly speak about the meeting, but President Mulino did. And he insisted that the canal belongs to Panama, and there will be no negotiation about that.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT JOSE RAUL MULINO: (Speaking Spanish).
SHAPIRO: “Panama’s sovereignty is not a topic of discussion,” he said. “That’s very important.”
DETROW: Amid all of this, how are Panamanians reacting to this threat from the U.S.?
SHAPIRO: With protests – I attended a couple of marches that shut down main streets here in Panama City. People burned the American flag. They shouted (speaking Spanish), which means, we’re not for sale; we’ll defend ourselves. But, of course, it rhymes. But some Panamanians are also responding with humor. I went yesterday to meet three members of the team behind a super popular Panamanian satire group called El Gallinazo. And Scott, I would love to introduce you to them. Their names are Joel Diaz, Jessica Solado (ph) and Esperanza Villalobos. And here’s how Jess described their operation.
JESSICA SOLADO: What El Gallinazo does is that it’s like a translator of very important and serious news but in a Panamanian slang. So everyone can be, like, informed but entertained at the same time.
SHAPIRO: So they’re basically meme-makers. The name El Gallinazo refers to the black vultures that are all over Panama City. The vulture is definitely not the national bird, but unlike the majestic harpy eagle that is on Panama’s crest, the vultures are actually part of people’s everyday lives. Joel founded the company 14 years ago, and he says they are scavengers of content.
JOEL DIAZ: We are there so you don’t have to be there in the dumpster of information that is Panama.
SHAPIRO: Esperanza is in her early 20s, and she says her job is to make sure the boomers on staff don’t sound out of touch. But she’s also a talented illustrator. She recently drew an image of President Trump as a baby pointing at the Panama Canal and crying, I want that one.
ESPERANZA VILLALOBOS: We are not journalists, but people do believe that.
(LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: How does that make you feel?
VILLALOBOS: That makes us feel with a huge responsibility. But we have the problem that our media, our content in television and the newspapers is they use vocabulary that is not translatable to the people that are in the streets.
SHAPIRO: Can we talk about Marco Rubio?
DIAZ: Si.
SOLADO: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Is this like the Super Bowl for you? How are you feeling about this?
DIAZ: We love content.
(LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: Any content (ph).
DIAZ: We controversial content. So this source is like a gold mine for making content.
SHAPIRO: We’ve talked to lots of Panamanians who, when Trump started talking about taking back the canal, they felt shocked or hurt or angry or nationalistic. As comedians, how did you feel when you heard him start talking about taking back the Panama Canal?
DIAZ: We get angry.
(LAUGHTER)
SOLADO: But it’s also funny because, come on.
VILLALOBOS: I think it’s funny because we’re looking at our politicians, and we believe that our politicians are low material, IQ intelligence, whatever.
SHAPIRO: You think your politicians are dumb.
JOEL DIAZ, JESSICA SOLADO AND ESPERANZA VILLALOBOS: Yeah.
VILLALOBOS: They so…
(LAUGHTER)
VILLALOBOS: So when these kind of things happen – because when we are talking about our politicians every day, people in the comments are like, yeah, we’re nothing like USA. They are intelligent, and we are nothing compared to them. And now when this happens, it’s like, yeah, we’re the same. We have the same kind of material of politicians. They’re funny everywhere so…
SHAPIRO: Politicians all around the world…
DIAZ, SOLADO AND VILLALOBOS: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: …Share some of the same qualities…
VILLALOBOS: Yes (laughter).
SHAPIRO: …Is what you’re saying?
VILLALOBOS: Right now, yes.
SHAPIRO: So what did you actually do with that material? Like, what was the meme that you created?
SOLADO: We have this meme that it says – it’s from the movie “Zoolander”…
SHAPIRO: “Zoolander.”
SOLADO: …Yeah, saying, like, Panama is so hot right now.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
SOLADO: (Non-English language spoken). Like, we’re in the…
DIAZ: We’re hot.
SOLADO: …(Inaudible) every morning. We’re hot. Yeah.
SHAPIRO: There’s a common expression in the United States, which is, you have to laugh because if you don’t, you’ll cry. And I wonder if that kind of describes the moment that you all are in right now.
DIAZ: Yeah, yeah. Totally.
VILLALOBOS: Also, I find a lot of peace in the chaos when – when something bad happens to you, and you feel like, why me? And then you open a meme, and you see the comments. And you see like, oh, this is affecting everyone. You find peace when it’s a collective thing.
SHAPIRO: So are you excited for the visit?
SOLADO: Yeah.
DIAZ: Yeah, we are.
(LAUGHTER)
DIAZ: We don’t know what’s going to happen, but we know we’ll have content. (Inaudible).
SHAPIRO: And that’s all that matters.
(LAUGHTER)
DIAZ: That’s all that matters, yeah.
SOLADO: Sometimes it is.
DETROW: That is our cohost Ari Shapiro in Panama City. You can tune into ALL THINGS CONSIDERED tomorrow where he will be hosting the show from the edge of the Panama Canal.
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