El graffiti en la V República Venezolana. Estudio del graffiti sobre asuntos públicos

Venezuela is living an unusual political process. On February 4th, 1992, suddenly, the lieutenant colonel Hugo Chávez enters in the public scene, becoming President almost seven years later. The President’s procedures infringe all the tradition of political communication in the country, being his charismatic image the center of the political controversy.A topic with few studies in the country has been the graffiti or pintada, not understood as art or as individual expression of feelings, but as political communication.In Venezuela the pintada in the street has a great tradition, especially after the fall of the last dictatorship. Very famous was “Rómulo renuncia” (Rómulo resign), against former President Betancourt, summarized as “RR” on the walls, due to repression from the political police.What has happened in a convulsive situation with the graffiti? From mainly being an anti-Establishment resource in a Latin-American country, what are the issues, protagonists and appeals of the current graffiti about public affairs? Are the graffiti identified or anonymous? These are some of the questions asked about this traditional anti-Establishment media.The author and his students from the course of Public Opinion II collected 740 graffiti about public affairs in Caracas, Venezuela. Being first an exercise for students, the study has followed its own way, after finishing the regular course, because the author had the need to continue the procedure due to the last events. The sample was collected between November 2001 and May of 2002, by writing, tape recording or photographing the graffiti around the city, analyzing their content according to variables previously defined.The main findings refer an abundant use of the graffiti as political communication media, almost we can say propaganda, by supporters and opponents of the so-called Revolución Bolivariana (Bolivarian Revolution), who fight for shaping a polarized public opinion, banishing, in certain way, the expression of other issues in public agenda, concerning points of view, aspirations and protest of the social groups, although this issues are also present.ResumenVenezuela está viviendo un inusual proceso político. El 4 de febrero de 1992, repentinamente, el teniente coronel Hugo Chávez entra en la escena pública, convirtiéndose casi siete a os después en presidente. Los procedimientos del presidente Chávez infringen toda la tradición de comunicación política en el país, siendo su carismática figura el centro de la controversia política.Un tema con pocos estudios en el país ha sido el graffiti o pintada, n