Foreign Branches of Fondo de Cultura Económica

The Foreign Branches of Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) are offices this Mexican publishing house has established outside of Mexico. The first foreign branch of FCE opened in Argentina 1945. These branches, which include bookstores, aim to promote the books written in Spanish throughout the region and the world.

The first foreign branch of Fondo de Cultura Económica was inaugurated in 1945 in Argentina, by Fondo de Cultura Económica director Arnaldo Orfila Reynal, who served as the first manager. FCE Argentina promotes Mexican culture and its topmost scientific and literary writers. During the 1990s, FCE Argentina started its own editorial program that alternates the publishing of Argentine and foreign writers through translations.

Established June 21, 1991, the Azteca bookstore of Fondo de Cultura Económica in Brazil includes efforts to promote linguistic exchange among Portuguese and Spanish-speaking communities in Brazil.

The Fondo de Cultura Económica operation in Chile was first established in 1954, though it was limited until diplomatic relations between Mexico and this country were reestablished in 1973.

This branch has consolidated its own editorial program through the joint publishing of books with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Economical Commission for Latin America.

Fondo de Cultura Económica established a distributing agency in Colombia in 1975 that aimed to import and distribute books that were originally printed in Mexico. However, this role was expanded in 1984, when FCE Colombia was formally constituted as a publishing house in Bogotá. Since then, this branch’s role has been to reprint and market titles for the Colombian readers in order to reduce their selling costs.

In 2000 FCE Colombia acquired its own building.

FCE’s branch in Guatemala has a program for promoting and commercializing books throughout the Central American region. Additionally, an editorial program was started in 2000 that specializes in printing Mayan-Spanish bilingual books by famous Guatemalan authors.

The history of the Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) in Peru began in the late 1950s, when the then director, Arnaldo Orfila Reynal, entrusted writer Magda Portal with the distribution of FCE books in the country. In early 1961, Portal found a suitable space on the third block of Jiron Apurimac in downtown Lima, where she set up a small office and the first local bookstore. However, this initial stage of the Fund suffered an unexpected setback with the economic crisis of 1967, which impacted the exchange rate and, therefore, imports.

After a pause, in 1974, another outstanding poet took over the national leadership. Under the direction of Blanca Varela, the corporation was created and a beautiful bookstore was established on Los Pinos Street, in Miraflores. Four years later, in a more favorable context, an emblematic locale was acquired, an old English mansion on Berlin Street in the same district. Varela directed the Fund for approximately 25 years; for this reason, and due to the importance of his poetry, the bookstore bears his name.

In the 1990s, it began to promote its own publishing program, with a catalog that currently includes almost 200 titles by authors such as José María Arguedas, Jorge Eduardo Eielson, Emilio Adolfo Westphalen, Miguel Gutiérrez, Victoria Guerrero, Karina Pacheco, José Carlos Agüero, Rossella Di Paolo and Alonso Cueto, among others. Over the years, new bookstores were also opened, such as the well-remembered one on Tarata Street, named 'Magda Portal'; the splendid premises on Esperanza Street, which unfortunately had to close during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the 'José María Arguedas' bookstore, located at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.

Since 2019, a change has been made in the editorial policy with the aim of encouraging a closer approach to readers through a significant reduction in prices and a broadening of the offer. These efforts, together with the purpose of contributing to education and dialogue in democracy, outline the path to follow in the near future.

The branch of Fondo de Cultura Económica in Spain was established on April 24, 1963. FCE Spain has signed multiple agreements with local universities. It has co-published, among many other works, collections of works by Miguel de Cervantes (in collaboration with the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares), and Génesis y desarrollo del Estado moderno (in collaboration with the European Science Foundation).

FCE USA is the foreign branch of Mexican publishing house Fondo de Cultura Económica in the United States, established on September 7, 1990.

In order to augment its presence in the USA, FCE USA signed an agreement with Lectorum-Scholastic for the distribution and commercialization of books among the latter’s library and school networks

The building in which the branch of Fondo de Cultura Económica in Venezuela is established was inaugurated in 1994, and it comprises a bookstore, the administrative offices and a distribution company. FCE Venezuela has opened two bookstores in Caracas.