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The story’s antagonist. Senator Zapanta is a corrupt, “fat” politician who lives in a luxurious gated compound while the citizens of his country live in squalor. Zapanta is portrayed as the story’s most despicable thief because he “stopped a nation in its tracks” when he siphoned off millions of dollars of aid money intended for the poor and he stashed it in his private vault. Zapanta deeply underestimates the intelligence of his long-time servant José Angelico, who smuggles out $6,000,000 from Zapanta’s private vault in an old fridge. Zapanta will stop at nothing to reclaim his wealth, including imprisoning Gabriel Olondriz (who attempted to expose him decades ago) and having Jose Angelico killed. Although Zapanta doesn’t directly engage with Rat, Raphael, or Gardo, he bribes the police to hunt down his fortune, putting the boys in grave danger. Toward the end of the story, newspaper headlines reveal that the public suspects Zapanta of corruption because of how much money was in his vault in the first place. Some newspaper columnists even call for Zapanta to be deposed. Jose Angelico’s theft thus achieves the twofold purpose of returning Zapanta’s money to the poor and exposing Zapanta for the fraud that he is.
Senor Zapanta (vice-president) Quotes in Trash
The Trash quotes below are all either spoken by Senor Zapanta (vice-president) or refer to Senor Zapanta (vice-president) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2: Chapter 1 Quotes
His final act—the one that killed him—was to expose three senators who’d been siphoning off public taxes and stowing them off-shore. They all resigned and the prosecution rumbles on. Pascal Aguila was shot to pieces in a taxi, on his way to testify. Twenty-six bullets—the same caliber as a policeman’s gun —and his murderers were never found.
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Early in the story, Father Juilliard, a 63-year old man who manages the charity-run Pascal Aguila Mission School, provides the backstory for Pascal Aguila, after whom the school is named. It turns out that Pascal Aguila was a poor boy who managed to train as a lawyer and who became a lifelong advocate for the city’s poor. Aguila fought imprisonment, eviction, and lack of access to education and water before attempting to expose three corrupt politicians. Mulligan uses Aguila’s story to foreground the pervasive corruption in this society that Senator Zapanta (the corrupt vice-president and the story’s antagonist) exemplifies within Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque e
Part 3: Chapter 5 Quotes
What matters is that forty years ago I came upon information that Senator Zapanta had spirited away thirty million dollars of international aid money […] But no schools or hospitals were ever built, and the city stayed poor.
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Gabriel Olondriz, an old and frail political prisoner in Colva Prison, explains to Gardo and Olivia how he wound up in prison. His explanation clues the reader in to specific details about the crimes of the corrupt vice-president (and the story’s antagonist), Senator Zapanta. Olondriz reveals that Senator Zapanta lined his personal vault with international aid money that was intended for the city’s poor. Whereas other characters steal throughout the story (for instance, José Angelico steals Zapanta’s fortune and Rat steals money from the Mission School), Mulligan draws a clear distinction between theft for survival or the common good and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volup
Part 3: Chapter 7 Quotes
I had so much evidence. Unfortunately for me, I was naïve. My office was raided. The same night there was a terrible fire at my house. I was away but both my maid and my driver were killed in it. And every scrap of evidence went up in smoke.
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While Gabriel Olondriz is explaining how he wound up in prison to Gardo and Olivia, he reveals that he was targeted by the corrupt Senator Zapanta after discovering evidence that would incriminate Zapanta many years earlier. Here, Olondriz explains how his evidence literally “went up in smoke” and he also reveals that Zapanta essentially murdered two people when Olondriz’s house was burned down. So far, the reader has learned that Zapanta is a colossal thief who robbed a nation of the chance to pull its citizens out of abject poverty. Now, Mulligan strengthens his case against Zapanta through Olondriz’s voice, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus
Part 4: Chapter 4 Quotes
Once again, the trash boys were ahead of the trash police.
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Raphael, Gardo, and Rat have fled Behala and taken refuge in a crowded slum in a tourist area of the city. Gardo has just managed to seize a Bible belonging to Gabriel Olondriz from a corrupt guard named Marco, and although the police attempted to catch Gardo, they failed. The boys are now in possession of the Bible, which will enable them to decode José Angelico’s cryptic instructions to the location of Senator Zapanta’s hidden fortune. Here, Raphael reflects—as he often does throughout the story—that despite being treated like “trash,” the boys have managed to evade the “trash” police. Raphael’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error.
Part 4: Chapter 7 Quotes
What was ten million dollars doing in your house, sir?
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Toward the end of the story, Rat, Raphael, and Gardo are closing in on the location of the money that José Angelico stole and hid from the corrupt Senator Zapanta. Around this same time, a newspaper columnist named Mohun publishes an article that criticizes Senator Zapanta from having so much money hidden in his home to be stolen in the first place. The article reveals that José Angelico’s theft was an ingenious way to expose Senator Zapanta’s corruption since the public are now aware that Zapanta had been hoarding money. Another article, by an unnamed student, similarly accuses Zapanta of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a.
Part 5: Chapter 1 Quotes
We were amongst wealthy people in very fancy clothes, and we felt even greyer and dirtier, but there was nothing for it, and still nobody was worrying about us – no one seemed to see us, like we were ghosts.
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In the final stages of the story, Raphael, Gardo, and Rat are in the city graveyard searching for José Angelico’s family plot, where they suspect the Senator Zapanta’s stolen fortune is hidden. It takes them several hours to realize they are in the wrong part of the graveyard, among the city’s rich, who are feasting and celebrating the Day of the Dead. Raphael’s comment about how invisible the boys feel captures the moral failings of society’s more fortunate citizens because it symbolizes how the city’s poor children are generally treated by those who are more fortunate. The city’s affluent typically Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eli
And that is when we saw the brightest light.
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As the story’s climax approaches, Raphael, Rat, and Gardo are in the city graveyard, where they’re narrowing in on the location of the hidden fortune that José Angelico stole from Senator Zapanta. They’ve been struggling to understand a clue telling them to “look for the brightest light” until they climb on top of a monument and they see thousands upon thousands of poor people pouring in to the other side of the graveyard with candles to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Suddenly, they are able to make sense of the clue. The light given off by the candles is Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit
Appendix Quotes
Beware, because this money belongs to the poor.
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The closing lines of Mulligan’s story are delivered in a letter penned by José Angelico. José Angelico explains how he meticulously planned over several years to gain Senator Zapanta’s trust and steal his fortune. Here, José Angelico—knowing he might not survive to see out his task—warns the person who finds the money that it “belongs to the poor.” This phrase is important because it enables Mulligan to justify José Angelico’s theft as a benevolent act of social justice. Even though José Angelico stole from Senator Zapanta, he is no thief—he was only returning to the poor what already belonged to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus v
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Senor Zapanta (vice-president) Character Timeline in Trash
The timeline below shows where the character Senor Zapanta (vice-president) appears in Trash. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 2: Chapter 3
José Angelico had been arrested on suspicion of robbing $6,000,000 from the vice-president, for whom Angelico worked as a houseboy for 18 years. It’s hard for Raphael to...
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Part 2: Chapter 4
...to discuss José Angelico’s nature as man. Grace has been a maid of Senator Zapanta—the vice-president—for four years. To Grace, José Angelico was a “kind, gentle, trustworthy, and honest” man, and...
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Part 3: Chapter 5
...idea who she’s visiting. He explains that he brought corruption charges against a very powerful Senator Zapanta when $30,000,000 of aid money, intended for schools and hospitals, disappeared 35 years ago. None...
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Part 3: Chapter 7
...could disappear. Gabriel Olondriz explains that this can happen with bogus contracts. He discovered that Senator Zapanta had siphoned money off and stockpiled it in a vault in his home. Olondriz worked...
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Part 3: Chapter 8
...the letter, which they’ve almost memorized (even the numbers). Rat decides they should go to Senator Zapanta ’s house (which is located in Green Hills among the rich and famous) to make...
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Part 3: Chapter 9
...that Raphael is scared, so Rat keeps a fast pace to distract him. They approach Senator Zapanta ’s gate, which is guarded with dogs and machine guns. Raphael gets nervous but Rat...
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...He hopes that José Angelico gave the money away before the police killed him, because Senator Zapanta stole from everyone, even the boys and the gardener himself.
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Part 3: Chapter 10
...is rent in the midst,” and Olondriz’s “soul would sing” if he could go to Senator Zapanta ’s house. Olondriz goes pale and he asks Gardo (in his language) if there is...
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Part 4: Chapter 1
...make it out alive. So they wait, watching the news, which features many pictures of Senator Zapanta . Rat is aching for the “fat pig’s” money and he thinks if he ever...
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Part 4: Chapter 7
...for a rice price hike. A page from the Inquirer newspaper reports that the “much-loved” vice-president is in “despair,” and that Senator Zapanta became famous a few years ago for clearing...
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Part 5: Chapter 5
...it in Behala, for anyone to find. They laugh and they bundle the money that Senator Zapanta stole from his people in two sacks, grab Pia Dante, and ride back to Behala...
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Appendix
...by Gabriel Olondriz’s efforts, he meticulously planned over years to steal back the money that Senator Zapanta stole from the poor. The senator “stopped a nation in its tracks” and he stopped...
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