Statesman or terrorist? The image of Víctor Haya de la Torre in two comics during the 1962 presidential campaign

Abstract

In 1962, during the presidential campaign in Peru, two comics were published in Lima dedicated to telling the political career of APRA leader Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, one of the main candidates in those elections along with Manuel Odría and Fernando Belaunde. These comics were called A life at the service of the people (published in the independent magazine format) and The story of a candidate (published in the newspaper El Comercio in the daily strip format). These publications represented, respectively, APRA and anti-APRA propaganda, emphasizing the figure and career of the founder of APRA. The vignettes of both comics contrast in their presentation, narrative tone, drawing style and approach to content, aspects that will be analyzed in this article, where we will also describe the context and the people involved as cartoonists and editors.