Caricaturas que adoctrinan: Las caricaturas de Rafael Martínez, la Revolución Mexicana y el Partido Republicano de Puerto Rico, 1914

Abstract

By 1914, the Republican Party of Puerto Rico had lost the last four elections. Among the measures taken to remain politically relevant, the Republican newspaper El Tiempo hired cartoonist Rafael Martinez (RAF). In view of these historical developments, this paper argues that RAF, as a political cartoonist and pro-statehood newspaper spokesperson, captured events such as the Mexican Revolution to, on the one hand, contribute to the electoral vindication of the Republican Party and, on the other, advance the party’s annexationist agenda. The portrayal of President Huerta as bloody and despicable, in contrast to a magnificent and methodical Uncle Sam, depicted the vicissitudes of the Spanish-American countries via-à-vis the freedom, democracy, and order of the United States. To this end, the cartoon would become the political and linguistic tool par excellence used by Republicans to indoctrinate the electorate.