Ramón Esono Ebalé

{{Short description|Equatorial Guinean illustrator}}

{{use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}

{{BLP sources|date=November 2017}}

{{Infobox comics creator

| image = Ramón Esono, caricaturista ecuatoguineano (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Ebalé in 2014

| alt =

| birth_name =

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| spouse =

| nationality =

| cartoonist =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| alias =

| notable works =

| awards =

| website =

| sortkey =

| subcat =

| nonUS =

}}

Ramón Nse Esono Ebalé (born 22 November 1977) is an Equatorial Guinean illustrator and comics artist. He draws under the pseudonym Jamón y Queso ("Ham and Cheese" in Spanish).

Ebalé was born in Micomeseng in northern Equatorial Guinea. Mostly self-taught, he also received drawing instruction at Centro cultural de España en Malabo. He has received awards such as the Regarde 9 at the Angoulême International Comics Festival and from magazine Africa and Mediterranean at Bologna.{{cite web|title=Ramón Esono Ebalé - Ficha de autor en Tebeosfera|url=https://www.tebeosfera.com/autores/esono_ebale_ramon.html|website=www.tebeosfera.com|accessdate=20 December 2017|language=es}} On the internet, Ebalé worked for the webzine Las Locuras de Jamón y Queso. He worked on the movie Un día vi 10.000 elefantes and has been exhibited in Paraguay and El Salvador.{{cite news |last=Naranjo|first=José|title=El dibujante Ramón Esono, detenido en Guinea Ecuatorial|newspaper=El País |language=Spanish |url=https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/09/17/africa_no_es_un_pais/1505667804_966754.html|date=2017-09-17}}{{cite news|title=Resistencia: Ramon Esono Ebalé|publisher=Diario Rombe |language=Spanish |url=https://diariorombe.es/resistencia-ramon-esono-ebale/|date=2013-06-26}}

In addition to a career as a commercial artist, Ebalé focuses on the deep inequality of Equatorial Guinea and on Teodoro Obiang, dictator since 1979.{{cite journal |author=Rowan Moore Gerety |title=Comics Without Captions: Can a cartoonist help unseat a dictator? |url=http://www.vqronline.org/profiles-articles/2016/01/comics-without-captions |issue=Winter |year=2016 |work=Virginia Quarterly Review |accessdate=2017-12-11}}

{{cite news |last=Hills |first=Carol |title=A cartoonist out to unseat a dictator is arrested |url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-09-28/cartoonist-out-unseat-dictator-arrested |work=The World (radio program) |publisher=Public Radio International |date=2017-09-28 |accessdate=2017-12-11}} Ebalé relocated to Paraguay in 2011. Though his crass style alienated many of his collaborators, he continued to work with a small group of dissidents opposing the government and Obiang.

In 2014, with dialogue written by an anonymous collaborator in Malabo, Ebalé drew the graphic novel La pesadilla de Obi (Obi's Nightmare). It was funded by the Non-governmental organization EGJustice. The book is described as "a satirical day-in-the-life that imagines what it would be like for Obiang himself, accustomed to unbridled control of his country’s economy, to wake up as an unemployed, witless husband in one of Malabo’s dreary slums." Lacking opportunities for legal distribution within Equatorial Guinea, the Spanish edition of book was distributed by individuals in secret.

In September 2017, Ebalé was arrested in Malabo and imprisoned at the notorious Black Beach prison.{{cite news |last=Naranjo |first=José |title=Guinea Ecuatorial encarcela a un artista crítico con Obiang por falsificación y blanqueo de dinero |newspaper=El País |language=Spanish |url=https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/09/20/actualidad/1505932061_188141.html?id_externo_rsoc=FB_CC| date=2017-09-21}}{{cite news |last=Millán |first=Agustín |title=Detenido Ramón Esono Ebalé dibujante critico con la dictadura de Obiang en Guinea|publisher=Diario16 |language=Spanish |url=http://diario16.com/detenido-ramon-esono-ebale-dibujante-critico-la-dictadura-obiang-guinea/ |date=2017-09-20}} He was released in March 2018 after a police officer admitted to falsely accusing him based on orders from his superiors.{{Cite news|url=https://cartoonistsrights.org/ramon-esono-ebale-released-from-prison/|title=Ramón Esono Ebalé Released from Prison|date=2018-03-07|work=CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL|access-date=2018-04-07|language=en-US}}

In November 2017, Cartoonists Rights Network, International gave Ebalé its Courage in Editorial Cartooning annual award, to draw attention to his imprisonment.{{cite news |last=Cavna |first=Michael |date=6 November 2017 |title=An imprisoned West African graphic novelist received the Courage in Cartooning award. Will it help? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/11/06/an-imprisoned-west-african-graphic-novelist-received-the-courage-in-cartooning-award-will-it-help/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington, DC |access-date=6 November 2017 }}