Brazilian tourists sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in front of a life-sized statue of an eternal six-year-old girl on Monday. But the icon parked on a bench in a middle class Buenos Aires suburb has actually just turned 50.<br /><br />The statue is of Mafalda, a famous comic strip character which took Argentina by storm when she was first published in 1964 following several years of military dictatorship.<br /><br />Popular across Latin America, Europe and much of Asia, the cartoons follow the adventures of a young girl who hated Communism but loved the Beatles.<br /><br />An exhibition to celebrate the work of her creator Joaquin Lavado – known as Quino – has opened in the Argentinian capital.<br /><br />Attending a ceremony to mark Mafalda’s birthday, Quino recalled how she put aside childish past-times for an interest in world affairs.<br /><br />“The issues raised were always things that concerned me and they continue to worry me, nothing has really changed,” he said.<br /><br />“But children today are so informed about everything that is happening in the world. When I was a child I had no idea who people like the Pope, and so on, were. Today, children know everything.”<br /><br />The cartoon strip was translated into more than 30 different languages before being turned into books and then a series of short animated films.<br /><br />Seen as something of a child prodigy, Mafalda was deeply concerned for humanity and world peace who cleverly and subtly touched on current events of the 60s and 70s.
