Peña Nieto sticker from Mexico

I picked up a few Mexican stickers from a group called Sublevarte Colectivo at the Boston Anarchist Book Fair last fall, and one of my students wrote descriptions for them for the Street Art Graphics digital image collection.

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“Vota a Peña Nieto” literally means “Vote for Peña Nieto.”  This is an image one sees all the time in Mexico, in campaign ads, bomber stickers, and painted on the sides of houses.  While this suggests that one should vote for Peña Nieto, the message of the image is turned around with the word “asesino.”  “Asesino” means assassin and is a direct reference to Peña Nieto’s past history as the governor of the State of Mexico.  Under his watch, there was a brutal repression of activist and ordinary citizens in the town of Atenco.  Peña Nieto has the support of the Mexican television monopoly, Televisa, and is covered favorably by the media.  It is also said that Peña Nieto paid Televisa to help him win the presidential election.  This sticker counteracts the ads that everyone in Mexico has seen on television, for it contrasts the biased media coverage with an alternative narrative.  It can be literally read as: “Vote for Peña Nieto the Assassin.”  It also transforms the image of Peña Nieto himself, usually known for his good looks, into a semi-monster.  For more information, see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/mexican-media-scandal-televisa-pri-nieto

Special thanks to Tzintzun Aguilar Izzo, SLU Class of ’15.