Leticia Neria PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

we think about them. However, if we do not agree with Avelino, then we will enjoy the
triumph of ‘los inconformes’ in their robbery and enjoy the tragedy of Avelino when he
tries to do the same to get money for his mother, and the police capture him.
We can see a similar description of youth in Los Agachados. In an issue in
which the usual characters do not appear in the story, and instead Rius expresses his
opinions about what happened on 10 June 1971, he makes a statement about youth:
‘Para los jóvenes, solo hay una forma de lucha política: la violencia. Todo lo demás,
(partidos, sindicatos, toma de conciencia, estudio) es cosa del pasado..’. The caption is
illustrated with an image of a young man dressed in hippie style saying: ‘Es para
viejitos fresas, maese!’ 227 This example points out the concern about youth that people
like Rius have and might share with other part of the population. The image of the
hippie ridicules him by overstating his features, his language and even his statement.
And the same messages from the previous example from La Familia Burrón are
apparent in this one. These examples show us how Mexican society was divided over
social movements – whether armed or pacifist – and had a poor understanding of this
younger generation.
Conclusion
As we have seen, humorous comic books have social relevance. They are used as a
channel to discuss topics which are banned in open discussion in repressive societies,
including Mexico during the regimes of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and Luis Echeverría
Álvarez. In a country in which the mass media were co-opted, with a low level of
literacy and where it was dangerous to show dissent, the monitos, as they are known in
Mexico, were a great means to open discussion of taboo topics. Their availability, low
227 Los Agachados, 98, p. 20.
157