Four months after the Cuban revolution came to power, on April 28th, 1959, the new revolutionary government opened the Casa de las Americas. An autonomous institution--now coming under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture--which would carry out nongovernmental tasks aimed at developing and broadening socio-cultural relations with the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Casa de las Americas was founded in order to put into practice measures and initiatives which would contribute to the cultural unity among the Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as situating these regional cultural expressions into the context of universal culture. Through its multiple activities, the Casa de las Americas helped to spread the message of the first socialist revolution in America; it made possible for numerous Latin American and Caribbean intellectuals to visit Cuba and familiarize themselves with the achievements of the Cuban Revolution and brought public recognition of the cultural values of our countries.

Haydee Santamaria, participant in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks, member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and Cuba's Council of State, presided over Casa de Las Americas until her death in 1980.

This collection contains 60 issues of the Casa de las Americas publication of the same name. The issues are printed in Spanish.