As charges antiperonistas de Tribuna da Imprensa (1949-1955)

Abstract

This article analyzes the editorial cartoons about the Juan Domingo Peron's administration produced by the German artist Hilde Weber (1913-1994) for the Carioca newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa, within the period from 1949 to 1955. We seek to identify how humor was used to convey certain political messages and their relations with the political and party-based position of the newspaper, whose ownership and management were in the hands of Carlos Lacerda, politician and journalist affiliated to the União Democrática Nacional (UDN). Deeply anti-Peronist, Tribuna da Imprensa mainly reported representations highlighting the Argentine President as a despot, conspirator, naive, and scoundrel man. In the editorial cartoons signed by Hilde Weber there is an implicit embodiment of the Justicialist political experience, pointing out a single person as the main responsible for destroying the democratic institutions. It is also noticeable that the newspaper used the negative news about the neighboring country as a weapon for political and partisan struggle nationwide. Carlos Lacerda, especially, acted as one of the main opponents of labor politicians, like Getúlio Vargas and João Goulart, who, according to their perception, could lead Brazil to a political trajectory similar to that of Peronist Argentina.