“Not my president”: 2020 Peruvian protests poster series

“Our generation has come together for this,” said 20-year-old Evelyn Borja.
“This is the first time I feel a part of politics.” — REUTERS

On the evening of November 9th 2020, Peruvian president Martín Vizcarra was ousted by the national congress on the basis of ‘moral incapacity’ and just five months apart from new elections. Vizcarra had attempted to stamp out deep-seated corruption. Based solely on unproven suspicions, the Peruvian congress ousted him, violating due process and constitutional order. Peru was facing a coup after 20 years of democracy.

The country was shortly ruled by de-facto president Manuel Merino (who previously led the Congress presidency). We, Peruvians, are furious at a group of politicians that have put us in high instability in pursuit of their petty disputes. In the middle of a devastating pandemic, economic recession, and high rates of unemployment, we brace for even harder times. The protests against his government, which occurred throughout the country (as well as in foreign cities around the world), left the death of 2 young protesters, Inti Sotelo and Bryan Jack Pintado, by the excessive police brutality and repression on the night of November 14th (14N). At the noon next day, and with several ministers who had already resigned from the de-facto government, Manuel Merino resigned from the presidency of Peru.

The first series of posters was created an hour after Merino was declared president by the Congress of the Republic. It originally consisted of 3 posters (which was later expanded to 47) and was later titled ‘Not my President’. The base poster, where Merino’s face can be seen along with the repeating typography, was shared by several internet users the night he took office. For the following days – thanks to the open-source license –, the poster obtained a greater reach within the first protests in the city of Lima (and later in other larger cities in Peru). The expanded series, also open source and free to be modified, was shared with the public on Thursday 12, being able to help the protesters to have ready to print A3 posters to be taken to the streets.

The content of these was designed to make a call to action to citizens, to be ironic about the situation through a much more millennial language – with references from pop culture – and criticize and deny the political position of the de-facto president.