Content note: US wartime poster in Spanish with caricatures of Axis officers and of a Mexican figure in a sombrero and bandolier, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
![[Mexican figure confronting four Nazi officers before a map of Latin America], 1940 US poster: A grinning, armed man](../images/us-ociaa-nazi-officers-latin-america-arias-bernal-spanish-1940.jpg)
[Mexican figure confronting four Nazi officers before a map of Latin America] (NARA 'Portuguese War Poster [1]')
A grinning, armed man in a sombrero faces four small, bald, bowing Nazi officers, whose hats are knocked askew, in front of a map of Latin America. The Axis figures are drawn as ridiculous, a name-calling device by caricature, and the viewer is invited to laugh at them rather than weigh any argument.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Washington, D.C.; artist Arias Bernal
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Foreign public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (US federal government work)
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. National Archives and Records Administration, NAID 44268147, local identifier 44-PF-825a.
Text on the object
Publicado por El Coordinador de Asuntos Interamericanos, Washington, E.U.A. [signature:] ARIAS BERNAL
Published by the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, Washington, U.S.A. [signature:] ARIAS BERNAL
