Ruslan Tcherviakov

• Affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University
  
• Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

The article is devoted to the question of the perception of Latin America by Soviet cartoonists in the end of 1970s — mid 1980s. Following the order of power, artists realized a propaganda function, broadcasting ideological attitudes to the masses. On the pages of the most influential satirical publication of the USSR, the magazine Crocodile, published a large number of materials related to the events of international life, which reflected specific ideological attitudes. Cartoonists didn’t interested in Latin America itself, but they managed to create a number of vivid and memorable images without national specificity. Images of dictators (A.Pinochet, A.Somoza, H.N.Duarte, A.Stroessner) reproduces stereotypes of the 1930s and 1950s associated with images of fascist criminals, which doesn’t allow to make the image relevant. The caricature demonstrates a shift in ideological accents, a conversion from the propaganda of national liberation movements to the principles of stability and the striving for peace. Thus, there is a transformation of Soviet ideology from offensive to defensive.