Central American Political Posters
Political posters are one subset of large format printed ephemera that crosscut several of The Latin American Library’s rare manuscript and ephemera collections. On display in the 4th floor lobby are select political posters relevant to late 20th-century liberation movements, protests, and political revolutions from across Central America.
Featured in this case are three publications from the LAL’s circulating and rare book collections with scholarship focused on those characteristics of the poster that make them simultaneously works of art and elegant modes of delivery for mass distribution of political propaganda.
The Latin American Library’s printed ephemera collection holds a selection of items from the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL). The OSPAAAL sprang from a 1966 conference held in Havana, Cuba of leaders, supporters, and like-minded activists in support of anti-imperialist and liberation movements from all over the world. The organization’s main organ, the magazine Tricontinental, and the posters it produced were dedicated to supporting people in their struggles against repression and colonialism.
Richard Frick and Ulíses Estrada
Das trikontinentale Solidaritätsplakat = El cartel tricontinental de solidaridad = The tricontinental solidarity poster = L’affiche tricontinentale de la solidarité
Bern, Switzerland: OSPAAAL/Commedia-Verlag, 2003
Tricontinental was a bi-monthly serial where OSPAAAL theoretical positions were published. Each issue had an insert containing an OSPAAAL political poster. These high-quality posters featured a pointed political and ideological vision communicated largely through sharp visuals and brief texts that were easily comprehensible in all cultures and languages. OSPAAAL posters gained international renown for their innovative designs, forms of expression, and incorporation of elements taken from the historical and cultural roots of the peoples featured each month. These characteristics can be appreciated above and at right in the Tricontinental issues and the OSPAAAL poster inserts published in solidarity with political movements in Guatemala and Panama.
Otker Bujard and Ulrich Wirper
La revolución es un libro y un hombre libre: los afiches políticos de Nicaragua libre 1979-1990 y del movimiento de solidaridad internacional
Managua, Nicaragua: Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica, 2009
Ernesto Cardenal’s essay on the creation of a Ministry of Culture in Nicaragua as a positive outcome from the 1978 overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship and the role of posters to promote cultural activities.