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Trading cards teach a lesson ; U.S.-backed "friendly dictators' spotlighted; [ALL Edition]
Telegram & Gazette. Worcester, Mass.: Apr 15, 1990. pg. B.11
The Hartford Courant
STORRS, Conn. - Manuel Noriega. Augusto Pinochet. Ferdinand Marcos. Mohammed Zia Ul-Haq. P.W. Botha. Efrain Rios Mont. Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier. Alfredo Stroessner. Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Those names, some familiar and some not, have two things in common. They all belong to people who are considered dictators, and at one time or another, all of these people enjoyed the support of the U.S. government.
The names and the history behind them are the subject of a new series of trading cards called "Friendly Dictators, 36 of America's Most Embarrassing Allies," published by Eclipse Books in California.
Each card has an illustration of a dictator on the front, by artist Bill Sienkiewicz, with a text on the back written by Laura Sydell and Dennis Bernstein, giving a summary of their ruthless, often bloody rules and their relationships with the United States.
William Nericcio, an assistant professor of Latin American literature at the University of Connecticut here, is using the cards in his class to help his students understand the complex relationship between the United States and the Third World, particularly Latin America.
Nericcio objects to the term "Third World." "We use it to mean exotic, undeveloped countries where primitive people go about their lives in a curious fashion," says Nericcio, who is Mexican- American. "It represents those people in our terms. We use our yardstick to measure their development."
The card for Manuel Noriega, who is awaiting trial in the United States for drug smuggling, shows a picture of him in military fatigues, with snowflakes falling and President Bush in his pocket.
"Of course, now it's Noriega who is silent and George Bush who is still in office," Nericcio says.
Dictators in the series who have been assassinated, overthrown or "neutralized" (as in the case of Noriega), have the word "canceled" stamped across their cards. Col. Hugo Banzar of Bolivia appears to have been canceled and uncanceled several times.
Nericcio says that little information about these regimes and U.S. support for them finds its way into publications and television shows seen by the general public.
The authors of the cards "are working against the mainstream media, who they feel do not get the story out about U.S. activities in Central America," Nericcio says.
The cards are intended for use as a textbook, but Nericcio urged his class to be critical of the information on the cards as well.
Nericcio's students analyzed the cards as a class assignment and discussed them in class.
"We used to believe you could hide behind anti-communism, but now that communism is falling all over the world and we don't have to be afraid of it, it will not be so easy to justify support of these people anymore," says Alexandra Kennedy, 19, a sophomore.
Friendly Dictator trading cards cost $8.95 for a pack of 36 and are available from Eclipse Books, P.O. Box 1099, Forestville, Calif. 95436.
Indexing (document details)
People: Noriega, Manuel A, Nericcio, William
Dateline:STORRS, Conn.
Section:NEWS
Publication title:Telegram & Gazette. Worcester, Mass.: Apr 15, 1990. pg. B.11
Source type: Newspaper
ISSN: 10504184
Abstract (Summary)
[William Nericcio] objects to the term "Third World." "We use it to mean exotic, undeveloped countries where primitive people go about their lives in a curious fashion," says Nericcio, who is Mexican- American. "It represents those people in our terms. We use our yardstick to measure their development."
"Of course, now it's [Manuel Noriega] who is silent and George Bush who is still in office," Nericcio says.
The cards are intended for use as a textbook, but Nericcio urged his class to be critical of the information on the cards as well.
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Full Text (484 words)
Copyright New York Times Company Apr 15, 1990
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