familiar form for Portuguese name "José", in much the same way "Joe" is a familiar form for the English name "Joseph"). Between 1961 and 2018, he had his Brazilian comic books, in which he is portrayed as living with his friends Nestor (an anthropomorphic crow), Afonsinho (an anthropomorphic duck), and Pedrão (an anthropomorphic dog), along with other characters: his nephews Zico and Zeca (also parrots), his girlfriend Maria Vaz (Portuguese: Rosinha Vaz, another anthropomorphic parrot), daughter of rich entrepreneur Rocha Vaz (an anthropomorphic toucan), and his romantic rival Zé Galo (an anthropomorphic rooster). Local production ended in 2001, but was restarted in 2012. José now has a pet, Old Tom, an alligator originated from the 1960s Studio Program duck stories. Since September 2020, new José stories are published by Culturama in the comic book Aventuras Disney. Comics featuring Joe Carioca, as he is called in the Netherlands, appear occasionally in the Dutch Donald Duck magazine. In these short stories, José occupies his time assuming false identities to impress girls (who usually see through him, leaving him brokenhearted), and wangling free dinners in expensive restaurants, a habit that often gets him into trouble. He appears extremely rarely in the German Micky Maus comics and :de: Lustiges Taschenbuch, having appeared around 10 times since his 1980 debut. In the Brazilian comics, Zé is also part of his neighborhood soccer team and runs a samba school. He has a secret identity as a superhero, Morcego Verde (Green Bat, a Batman spoof), although he is easily recognized by his neighbors. In recent years, José Carioca has been used alongside Panchito and Donald in two comics by American artist Don Rosa, The Three Caballeros Ride Again (2000) and The Magnificent Seven (Minus 4) Caballeros (2005). The creation of a Brazilian animated character during the Second World War was part of a strategy called "Good Neighbor Policy" headed by the United States government to improve relations and gather support amongst its neighbor countries. Recent uses In April 2007, Disney re-introduced José Carioca (along with the third Caballero, Panchito) in the newly revamped ride at Epcot's Mexico Pavilion with entirely new animation and a new storyline. It has been dubbed "The Gran Fiesta Tour". After being reunited, The Three Caballeros are set to play a show in Mexico City. But Donald goes missing. José and Panchito must search throughout Mexico for Donald as he takes in various