--- title: 'Latin American propaganda posters: Mexico, Chile, Brazil and US Alliance for Progress' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/ description: 'Latin American propaganda posters from both sides: Mexican broadsides and 1939 posters, Alliance for Progress and Good Neighbor sheets, Chile 1988.' section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of an evidence wall of pinned propaganda posters, leaflets and printed matter from many eras, with contact sheets and catalog labels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-collection.jpg) Collection # Latin American propaganda posters: Mexico, Chile, Brazil and US Alliance for Progress Latin American propaganda posters from both sides: Mexican broadsides and 1939 posters, Alliance for Progress and Good Neighbor sheets, Chile 1988. 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Latin American propaganda posters [![En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894-640.jpg)En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) [![Defendemos la Libertad y Luchamos por un Mundo Mejor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mexico-defendemos-la-libertad-mundo-mejor-1939-640.jpg)Defendemos la Libertad y Luchamos por un Mundo Mejor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-defendemos-la-libertad-mundo-mejor-1939/) [![¡Presente! También Así Se Lucha por la Patria](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/presente-asi-se-lucha-por-la-patria-mexico-1939-640.jpg)¡Presente! También Así Se Lucha por la Patria](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/presente-asi-se-lucha-por-la-patria-mexico-1939/) [![No dejemos al Eje meter la garra en las Américas \[Let us not let the Axis put its claw into the Americas\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-oiaa-no-dejemos-al-eje-meter-la-garra-1941-640.jpg)No dejemos al Eje meter la garra en las Américas [Let us not let the Axis put its claw into the Americas]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-oiaa-no-dejemos-al-eje-meter-la-garra-1941/) [![Alianza para el Progreso poster 409a, third anniversary (Spanish poster distributed in Mexico City)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/alianza-para-el-progreso-poster-409a-third-anniversary-spanish-mexico-city-1964-640.jpg)Alianza para el Progreso poster 409a, third anniversary (Spanish poster distributed in Mexico City)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/alianza-para-el-progreso-poster-409a-third-anniversary-spanish-mexico-city-1964/) [!["Usted elige" leaflet: Chilean flag above a hammer-and-sickle field (1988 plebiscite period)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chile-usted-elige-leaflet-1988.jpg)"Usted elige" leaflet: Chilean flag above a hammer-and-sickle field (1988 plebiscite period)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-usted-elige-leaflet-1988/) > **Content note.** Several items use insults as issued: a 1914 Mexican broadside calls Emiliano Zapata "that fatal Attila", a 1965 United States sheet labels fighters "partisans of terror", and a 1940s United States cartoon draws a Mexican figure in stereotyped dress. They are shown as printed, with the other items. Showing an item is not endorsing it. [What did Latin American propaganda posters look like?](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#what-did-latin-american-propaganda-posters-look-like) [Mexico](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#mexico-broadsides-then-a-government-at-war) [The United States in Latin America](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#the-united-states-in-latin-america) [The Alliance for Progress and the 1965 sheets](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#the-alliance-for-progress-and-the-1965-sheets) [Chile, 1988](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#chile-1988-both-campaigns-on-paper) [Cartoons](https://propagandaarchive.org/latin-american-propaganda-posters/#cartoons-venezuela-and-brazil) ## What did Latin American propaganda posters look like? Latin American propaganda posters include Mexican commercial broadsides and government lithographs, Chilean plebiscite leaflets, and United States posters printed in Spanish and Portuguese for Latin American audiences. Governments, parties, newspapers and, from the 1940s, a Washington agency made them. Cuba has [its own page](https://propagandaarchive.org/cuban-propaganda-posters/). ![Broadside, Mexico City, 1914: a woodcut of Emiliano Zapata with rifle and cartridge belts between two columns of verse](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/entierro-de-zapata-vanegas-arroyo-1914.jpg) ## Mexico: broadsides, then a government at war The Vanegas Arroyo firm printed cheap broadsides in Mexico City for sale on the street. "El entierro de Zapata" (1914) sets a woodcut signed Posada between verse that calls Zapata "the inhuman" and "an outlaw": loaded labels in place of a report of what he did ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). The firm's 1923 sheet on the spirit of Francisco Villa lists his alleged crimes and no counter-entry ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). **Content note:** Broadside verse depicting the ghost of Francisco Villa being punished after death, calling him and his followers thieves, inhuman murderers and rapists; names Chinese, Germans, Americans, Spaniards and friars among his pursuers, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) ![Broadside, Mexico City, 1923: verse in a border of skeleton figures around a bust of Francisco Villa](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/calaveras-espiritu-de-villa-vanegas-arroyo-1923.jpg) ![Poster, Mexico, 1939: a woman holding a large green flag between a charro with a sword and a farmer with maize](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mexico-patria-mexicana-helguera-1939.jpg) ![Poster, Mexico, 1939: Las dictaduras han acabado por agredirnos, a charro pulling a bell rope before a large flag](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mexico-mexicanos-las-dictaduras-morales-1939.jpg) ![Poster, Mexico, 1939: rows of national flags and three painted faces under a quotation from President Avila Camacho on Pan-Americanism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sep-panamericanismo-avila-camacho-mexico-1939.jpg) Explain moreShow less In 1939 Mexican ministries, labour federations and artists made posters now held in the US National Archives. "Patria Mexicana" by Jesus Helguera puts a flag, a charro, a farmer and a church on one female figure ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). Vicente J. Morales's poster names its opponents "las dictaduras" and calls for a state of war, with "pueblo libre" and "libertad" for Mexico's side ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). The Education Ministry's Pan-American sheet pairs three faces with a quotation from President Manuel Ávila Camacho and offers peace, justice and democracy with no named action ([Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)). The same year the national railways sold "Handy... Mysterious... Colorful... Exotic... Mexico!", a tourism advertisement. ## The United States in Latin America Between 1940 and 1945 the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, a US government office, issued posters in Spanish and Portuguese. One by the artist Arias Bernal shows a Nazi parachutist drifting toward a cactus while Uncle Sam and a charro laugh: ridicule of the enemy, nothing more ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). Another draws an armband-cuffed claw reaching over the globe toward a bayonet ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). A calendar shows a US and a Latin American soldier shaking hands ([Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/)). ![Poster, 1941: a Nazi paratrooper falls toward a cactus while Uncle Sam and a Mexican charro laugh](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-nazi-parachutist-cactus-arias-bernal-spanish-1941.jpg) ![Poster, 1941: a giant clawing hand with a swastika armband reaches over a blue globe toward a bayonet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-oiaa-no-dejemos-al-eje-meter-la-garra-1941.jpg) ![Calendar poster, 1942: a US soldier and a Latin American soldier shaking hands before a globe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-ociaa-las-americas-unidas-calendar-spanish-1942.jpg) ## The Alliance for Progress and the 1965 sheets In 1964 the US Information Agency distributed Spanish posters for the Alliance for Progress. "Adelante" lines up national flags beside the Alliance flag ([Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)). "En marcha" lists 222,600 houses and 23,400 classrooms with no countries, baselines or sources, and the Bolivia map credits only programme projects ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). ![Poster, 1964: Under way, signposts listing houses, classrooms, loans and water systems built in three years of the Alliance for Progress](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/alianza-en-marcha-en-tres-anos-poster-spanish-1964.jpg) ![Poster, 1964: Bolivia progresa con la Alianza, a map marked with water systems, health centres, schools and roads](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bolivia-progresa-con-la-alianza-poster-spanish-1964.jpg) ![Poster, 1965: La subversion comunista en America Latina, photographs of seized ammunition and rifles](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/communist-subversion-latin-america-ppb-417-spanish-multiple-1965.jpg) ![Poster, 1965: Que hacen los Estados Unidos en Santo Domingo, six photographs of Marines and nurses giving food and medicine](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/que-hacen-los-estados-unidos-en-santo-domingo-spanish-1965.jpg) Explain moreShow less In 1965 the same agency's "Communist Subversion in Latin America" says Cuba directs subversion and shows seized arms from five countries ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)); no view from those accused appears. The sheet on Santo Domingo shows only relief work by US troops and calls the fighters "partisans of terror". ## Chile, 1988: both campaigns on paper Leaflets from the 1988 plebiscite show both sides' method. A pro-Pinochet pamphlet claims "Nunca nadie hizo más por la familia chilena" over a grid of credits only ([Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)). A "No" leaflet ties a No vote to the queues and ration cards of 1972 by photographs alone ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)), and the Partido por la Democracia lists five grievances, each with no reply on the sheet. ![Pamphlet, Chile, 1988: a man in a straw hat lifts a baby beside a grid of housing, birth and milk figures](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chile-pinochet-nunca-nadie-familia-1988.jpg) ![Leaflet, Chile, 1988: El No otra vez la Unidad Popular, photographs of queues and a cut-out of ration cards](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/chile-el-no-otra-vez-la-up-leaflet-1988.jpg) ## Cartoons: Venezuela and Brazil Venezuela's *El Diablo* (1894) draws a border dispute as a lion labelled "Inglaterra" on a woman marked "Venezuela" ([Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)). Brazil's *O Malho* (1922) cartoon "As duas imprensas" labels one press "Imprensa Amarella" and defends the other beside the scales of Justice ([Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)). ![Cartoon, Caracas, 1894: a lion labelled Inglaterra lies with a paw on a woman sashed Venezuela](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894.jpg) ![Cartoon, Rio de Janeiro, 1922: As duas imprensas, a Senate rostrum with an axe labelled Lei de Imprensa](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/as-duas-imprensas-o-malho-1922.jpg) ## What the collection does not hold - **Not here:** Cuban material (see the Cuban page), and most Mexican Revolution muralism and the Taller de Gráfica Popular prints. - **Not here:** Argentine Peronist posters beyond one 1953 photograph, Brazilian Estado Novo posters, Chilean 1970 to 1973 posters, and Venezuelan material after 2014 beyond a few banners. - **Gaps in the US group:** Good Neighbor material is mostly 1940 to 1942 OCIAA sheets; no Latin American reply to the Alliance or 1965 sheets is held. Sources and further reading ## Sources US National Archives, Record Groups 44 (Office of War Information and Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs) and 306 (US… US National Archives, Record Groups 44 (Office of War Information and Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs) and 306 (US Information Agency). Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Vanegas Arroyo collection. Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, Memoria Chilena; Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile. Wikimedia Commons for the 1894 and 1922 cartoons. Each item in the grid carries its own source and rights note. ## Latin American and inter-American propaganda in the collection Showing 28 of 28 objects. [Filter the whole collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/). - [En posesión de su presa (In Possession of Its Prey)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/en-posesion-de-su-presa-el-diablo-1894/) (Venezuela · Jun 2, 1894 · Fear appeal) - [Los sangrientos sucesos en la ciudad de Puebla: la muerte del Jefe de Policía Miguel Cabrera (The Bloody Events in the City of Puebla: The Death of Police Chief Miguel Cabrera)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sangrientos-sucesos-puebla-vanegas-arroyo-1910/) (Mexico · Nov 1910 · Fear appeal). Content note: News broadside describing a gun battle with deaths and a woodcut of the fight. - [El entierro de Zapata (The Burial of Zapata)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/entierro-de-zapata-vanegas-arroyo-1914/) (Mexico · 1914 · Name-calling). Content note: Satirical broadside mocking Emiliano Zapata in period verse. - [As duas imprensas (The Two Presses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/as-duas-imprensas-o-malho-1922/) (Brazil · Dec 16, 1922 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Calaveras: revelación de ultra tumba del espíritu de Francisco Villa (Skulls: Revelation from Beyond the Grave of the Spirit of Francisco Villa)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/calaveras-espiritu-de-villa-vanegas-arroyo-1923/) (Mexico · 1923 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Defendemos la Libertad y Luchamos por un Mundo Mejor](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-defendemos-la-libertad-mundo-mejor-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Mas Esfuerzo Produccion (La Patria lo Pide)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-mas-esfuerzo-produccion-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Glittering generalities) - [¡Mexicanos! Las dictaduras han acabado por agredirnos (México por la Libertad)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-mexicanos-las-dictaduras-morales-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Name-calling, Glittering generalities) - [México por la Libertad: Mujer Mexicana, ¡La Patria te Solicita!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-mexico-por-la-libertad-mujer-mexicana-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Patria Mexicana](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mexico-patria-mexicana-helguera-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Transfer) - [¡Presente! También Así Se Lucha por la Patria](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/presente-asi-se-lucha-por-la-patria-mexico-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Glittering generalities, Transfer) - [Secretaría de Educación Pública \[Panamericanismo quotation, Manuel Ávila Camacho\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sep-panamericanismo-avila-camacho-mexico-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities) - [Secretaría de Educación Pública \[¿Por qué luchamos? quotation, Manuel Ávila Camacho\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sep-por-que-luchamos-avila-camacho-mexico-1939/) (Mexico · 1939 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities) - [\[Mexican figure confronting four Nazi officers before a map of Latin America\] (NARA 'Portuguese War Poster \[1\]')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-nazi-officers-latin-america-arias-bernal-spanish-1940/) (United States · 1940 · Name-calling). 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. - ['Franklin D. Roosevelt, Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América' (US portrait poster in Spanish)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-franklin-d-roosevelt-presidente-spanish-1941/) (United States · 1941 · Transfer) - [Nazi parachutist drops toward a cactus while Uncle Sam and a Mexican charro laugh (Spanish-language OCIAA poster)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-nazi-parachutist-cactus-arias-bernal-spanish-1941/) (United States · 1941 · Name-calling) - [No dejemos al Eje meter la garra en las Américas \[Let us not let the Axis put its claw into the Americas\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-oiaa-no-dejemos-al-eje-meter-la-garra-1941/) (United States · 1941 · Fear appeal). Content note: US wartime poster in Spanish with a bleeding hand and a combined Japanese and Nazi emblem as threat symbols. - [Las Américas Unidas para la Victoria y el Progreso Humano \[The Americas United for Victory and Human Progress\]](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-las-americas-unidas-calendar-spanish-1942/) (United States · 1942 · Glittering generalities, Identity fusion) - ["Perón cumple, Evita dignifica": the CGT tower, Buenos Aires, 1953](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/peron-cumple-evita-dignifica-cgt-tower-1953/) (Argentina · Dec 1953 · Glittering generalities) - [Alianza poster, En marcha en tres anos (Spanish poster distributed in Mexico City)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/alianza-en-marcha-en-tres-anos-poster-spanish-1964/) (United States · Jul 13, 1964 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities) - [Bolivia Progresa con la Alianza poster (Spanish poster distributed in La Paz)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bolivia-progresa-con-la-alianza-poster-spanish-1964/) (United States · Jul 15, 1964 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities) - [Alianza para el Progreso poster 409a, third anniversary (Spanish poster distributed in Mexico City)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/alianza-para-el-progreso-poster-409a-third-anniversary-spanish-mexico-city-1964/) (United States · Jul 27, 1964 · Glittering generalities, Bandwagon) - [Communist Subversion in Latin America poster, PPB-417 (Spanish poster, multiple distribution centres)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/communist-subversion-latin-america-ppb-417-spanish-multiple-1965/) (United States · May 13, 1965 · Fear appeal, Card stacking, Name-calling) - [Que hacen los Estados Unidos en Santo Domingo (What the U.S. Is Doing in Santo Domingo; Spanish poster distributed in Mexico City)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/que-hacen-los-estados-unidos-en-santo-domingo-spanish-1965/) (United States · May 19, 1965 · Card stacking, Name-calling) - ["El No... otra vez la Unidad Popular" leaflet: queues, empty shelves and ration cards (1988)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-el-no-otra-vez-la-up-leaflet-1988/) (Chile · 1988 · Card stacking, Fear appeal) - ["Pinochet: Nunca nadie hizo más por la familia chilena": 1988 plebiscite pamphlet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-pinochet-nunca-nadie-familia-1988/) (Chile · 1988 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities) - [Partido por la Democracia leaflet: a giant "NO" beside five grievances (1988 plebiscite)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-ppd-no-leaflet-1988/) (Chile · 1988 · Card stacking) - ["Usted elige" leaflet: Chilean flag above a hammer-and-sickle field (1988 plebiscite period)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/chile-usted-elige-leaflet-1988/) (Chile · 1988 · Transfer, Card stacking, False dilemma)