Lalo Alcaraz
Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic strips. Alcaraz was born in 1964 in San Diego, California, and grew up on the U.S.–Mexico border, giving him a dual outlook on life (not "Mexican" enough for his relatives, not "American" enough for some in the U.S.). He attended San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "With Distinction" in Art and Environmental Design in 1987.
Lalo Alcaraz

Gage Skidmore Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere. · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Birth Name
- Eduar Lopez Alcaraz
- Born
- 19 April 1964
- Birthplace
- San Diego, California, U.S.
- Nationality
- American
- Occupation
- cartoonist · television writer · television producer · radio personality · academic staff
- Education
- San Diego State University · University of California and Berkeley · Helix High School
- Known for
- La Cucaracha
- Languages
- Spanish · English
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Documentary summary
Launched in 2002, La Cucaracha has become one of the most controversial in the history of American comic strips. Alcaraz was born in 1964 in San Diego, California, and grew up on the U.S.–Mexico border, giving him a dual outlook on life (not "Mexican" enough for his relatives, not "American" enough for some in the U.S.). He attended San Diego State University, where he received his bachelor's degree "With Distinction" in Art and Environmental Design in 1987.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q6480547 · wikipedia · Lalo Alcaraz
In this article
Biography
Biography
In 1991, Alcaraz earned his master's degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley. A leading figure in the Chicano movement, Alcaraz formerly contributed political cartoons for LA Weekly from 1992 to 2010. He co-hosts a radio show on KPFK called the "Pocho Hour of Power". Alcaraz is also the "Jefe-in-Chief" of POCHO.COM, a website specializing in "Ñews y Satire."
Lalo Alcaraz studied at San Diego State University, University of California, Berkeley and Helix High School. The recorded working language is Spanish and English. Works named in the authority record are La Cucaracha. Work by Lalo Alcaraz is recorded in the collections of Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Eduar Lopez Alcaraz • Born — 19 April 1964 • Birthplace — San Diego, California, U.S. • Nationality — American • Area — Cartoonist, writer, producer • Notable Works — La Cucaracha • Website — laloalcaraz.com
Career
Career
In addition to the daily strip, Alcaraz has published four books. Alcaraz is also an active speaker on the college circuit. He is represented by The Agency Group in Los Angeles. Alcaraz taught as a faculty member at Otis College of Art & Design. He serves on the editorial advisory board of the Latin American and Latinx literature, philosophy, and arts journal Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures. Alcaraz was consulting producer and writer on the animated show Bordertown (created by Family Guy show runner Mark Hentemann and executive produced by Seth MacFarlane), which ran one 13-episode season on Fox. It featured the first animated Mexican-American or even Latino family on primetime American television. He also served along with Gustavo Arellano as producer on comedian Al Madrigal's TV special for Fusion, Half Like Me. In 2015, Pixar hired Alcaraz to consult on Coco. (See "Activism" below.) He is also a TV animation producer and consultant on The Casagrandes on Nickelodeon. Alcaraz is also a performer, voicing an angry mariachi in Coco, and has portrayed a Mexican bounty hunter named "Royce Vargas" in the 2017 Bill Plympton/Jim Lujan animated feature film Revengeance.
Activism
Activism
In response to the Walt Disney corporation's attempt to trademark Día de Los Muertos for the Pixar film set in Mexico, Coco, Alcaraz helped lead a social activist campaign which eventually led to Disney's abandoning the idea. In particular, Alcaraz's "Muerto Mouse" (itself an offshoot of his early "Migra Mouse") criticized the Disney campaign with the byline "It's coming to trademark your cultura." He is the creator of "Daniel D. Portado", a satirical Hispanic character who in 1994 formed the faux group "Hispanics For Wilson" which called on Mexican immigrants to return south—"reverse immigration"—as a response to the controversial Proposition 187. In 2012, Daniel D. Portado returned to the headlines as a result of Mitt Romney's call, during his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, on undocumented immigrants to exercise "self-deportation." He contributed a work of art to the 2008 Obama campaign called "Viva Obama". He worked with The Lincoln Project during the campaign for the 2020 United States presidential election.
Works
Works
* * * * *
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1964
Lalo Alcaraz born at San Diego.
2021
The POCHO Hour of Power w/ Lalo Alcaraz and correspondents Patricia Guadelupe (Washington DC) Meredith Brown (Immigration attorney) and Russell Contretas from HBO's Axios Latino - KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles 1/28/22 (2021) is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
Awards
Alcaraz has received five Southern California Journalism Awards for Best Cartoon in Weekly Papers, and numerous other awards and honors, including "The Latino Spirit Award" from the California Legislature and the Office of the Lt. Governor, honors from the Los Angeles City Council, The California Chicano News Media Association, the UC Berkeley Chicano Latino Alumni Association, the United Farm Workers of America, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, and The Rockefeller Foundation. Pulitzer Prize Finalist In 2019 and 2020, Alcaraz was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. Herblock Prize On April 26, 2022, he was awarded the annual Herblock Prize presented by the Herb Block Foundation to honor excellence in editorial cartooning.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Eduar Lopez Alcaraz.
- 2.Lalo Alcaraz. Bio.
- 3.Seth Wolf. San Francisco Bay Guardian Arts and Entertainment. San Francisco Bay Guardian. 2004-10-12.
- 4.Gocomics.com. La Cucaracha Comic Strip. 2002-11-25.
- 5.Andrews McMeel Publishing. Lalo Alcaraz. Universal Uclick.
- 6.Lou Delgado. Splinters: Lalo Alcaraz: Chicano Political Cartoonist. Splinters.
- 7.Wegner, Kyle David. Children of Aztlán: Mexican American popular culture and the post-Chicano aesthetic. State University of New York at Buffalo. 71. June 2006.
- 8.National Association of latino Arts and Cultures. Creative Responders: Latino Art in Action Re-Affirming and Transforming the Future. Los Angeles Regional Workshop. 2008-11-14.
- 9.World News. Lalo Alcaraz On Arizona's New Anti-immigration Legislation. KPFK-TV. 2010-05-10.
- 10.KPFK. Pocho Hour of Power.
- 11.Pocho. Our management and editorial honchos.
- 12.The University of New Mexico. Lalo Alcaraz Named Keynote Speaker at Luminaria Award Dinner. News.
- 13.El Hispanic News. Leadership conference shows many paths to successful careers.
- 14.CSU Pomona. Xicano Latino Heritage Month. César E. Chávez Center for Higher Education.
- 15.The Agency Group. Lalo Alcaraz. Speaking Client.
- 16.Faculty Bios > Lalo Alcaraz. Otis College of Art and Design.
- 17.Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures on JSTOR. www.jstor.org.
- 18.Nevarez, Griselda. Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz to Work On Pixar's Day of the Dead Film 'Coco'. NBC News. 2015-08-21.
- 19.Lalo Alcaraz. Walt Disney, Inc. wants to trademark 'Dia de los Muertos'. Pocho.com. 2013-05-07.
- 20.Arellano, Gustavo. Lalo Alcaraz Creates Amazing "Muerto Mouse" Cartoon in Response to Disney "Dia de los Muertos" Fiasco. Blogs. OC Weekly. 2013-05-08.
- 21.Renteria, Ramon. Ramon Renteria: 'Muerto Mouse' seeks cash, not cheese. El Paso Times. 2013-05-12.
- 22.Kumar, Ankali. Chicano cartoonist entertains students. The Daily Pennsylvanian. 1996-03-28.
- 23.Daniel D. Portado: The Original Self-Deportationist. News Taco. 2012-02-02.
- 24.Severns, Jeff. Viva Obama Artist Gets the Academic Treatment. Utne Reader. September 18, 2009.
- 25.Guadalupe, Patricia. Latino cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz on mission to defeat Trump in November. NBC News. October 5, 2020.
- 26.KCET. Local Hero: Lalo Alcaraz. Hispanic Heritage Month – Local Heroes.
- 27.Finalist: Lalo Alcaraz, freelancer. The Pulitzer Prizes.
- 28.Cavna, Michael. Cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz wants to expose our nation's inhumanity. The Washington Post. 2021-04-26.
- 29.The Herb Block Foundation. Herblock Prize & Lecture.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 1
- Fernández L'Hoeste, Héctor D. Lalo Alcaraz: Political Cartooning in the Latino Community. University Press of Mississippi. 2014. 978-1496811370.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q6480547: Lalo AlcarazWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Lalo Alcaraz is recorded as having studied at San Diego State University, University of California, Berkeley and Helix High School.
Activity and practice
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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