A importância de se chamar “Barbie”

Angel Boligan, «El Universal»

No Johnson da The Economist escreve-se sobre a importância do nome de guerra nos cartéis de droga do México; além de armas, soldados, contactos na polícia, algum político no bolso, é importante para qualquer aspirante a líder neste mundo ter um alcunha: algo que inspire o medo nos adversários e na população local. O exemplo dado é de Édgar Valdez Villareal que subiu na hierarquia através do assassinato, distribui toneladas de cocaína nos EUA e enterrou cadáveres um pouco por todo o México. Foi preso há cerca de duas semanas. A sua alcunha é um inocente e subtil “La Barbie”:

[…] Many bandits plump for more conventionally menacing titles. A recent wanted-list published by the Mexican government includes El Lobo (the wolf), El Jabalí (the wild boar), El Rambo (speaks for itself) and Chico Malo (bad boy). Sergio Villareal Barragán, who was captured last week, went by various aliases, including El Comeniños (the child-eater). And last year Mexican troops arrested El Pozolero, usually translated as “the stew-maker”, who was known for dissolving his victims in acid. The aptness of the name only emerges when you see a pozole, which is a hearty soup of meat, vegetables and large chunks of maize that resemble floating wisdom teeth.

But our friend Barbie isn’t the only one to go for something more subtle. The government’s wanted-list includes El Chiquilín (the little boy), El Muletas (crutches) and El Borrego (the lamb—and also slang for a con or hoax, my dictionary tells me). Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquín Guzmán, supposedly head of the Sinaloa cartel, is known simply as El Chapo, or “shorty”.

Something about apparently innocent names like “the lamb” makes them far more sinister, for my money. Isn’t there something more frightening about the mysterious “Barbie” than the swaggering “Rambo”? It’s the same in fiction: consider the wimpy-sounding Pinkie Brown, or boring old Norman Bates and Patrick Bateman. Picture Blofeld without his fussy white cat, Hannibal Lecter minus the Chianti, the White Witch without her Turkish delight. If you are really bad to the bone, an innocent-sounding name and a few homely accessories only enhance your menace.

Nick Anderson, «Houston Chronicle»

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