Diario Las Americas Archive 

The Diario las Américas, published by the Américas Pub. Co., began printing November 1953 in Miami, FL as a member of the Inter-American Press Association. It published an issue daily (except for on Mondays), primarily in Spanish "por la libertad, la cultura y la solidaridad hemisferica" ("for liberty, culture and hemispheric solidarity").

Since its early days, the city served as the home base for many Hispanics fleeing their homelands due to economic and political hardships. A case in point is the exodus of Cubans to Miami after Fidel Castro claimed power in Cuba in 1959. While Cubans make up the majority of the city's population, Miami is home to newcomers from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and other Latin American/Caribbean nations.

From its inception, issues of the Diario were published in Spanish, except for the very last page of every issue, which was printed in English. This "Inter-American News for English-speaking people" section was a dedicated space to share news and reach the English-speaking community. However, in August 1958, the publisher altered the publication by removing this English-language "Inter-American News" section and replaced it with a "Noticias de Miami y Florida" ("News from Miami and Florida") to further serve its Spanish-speaking community. It also included a recurring section "La Voz de Tampa" ("The Voice of Tampa"), which featured news directly from the paper's Tampa office.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Diario provided local news coverage, its primary concern seemed to be connecting with the international community and providing news from abroad. It offered a recurring section "Iberoamerica al día" (daily Iberian America) that published accounts of events occurring all over Latin America and the Caribbean. The paper also offered sections covering happenings in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. It informed its readers of the events leading up to the Cuban Revolution in 1959. It also documented discussions around the Commonwealth status of Puerto Rico and reported on political and social challenges leading to guerilla movements in Colombia.

Additionally, the Diario included supplemental material for several years. Hemisferio (Hemisphere) was an affiliated magazine that published an issue every week during the first few years of publication. Like the earlier issues of the newspaper, the Hemisferio was printed primarily in Spanish, typically offering one page of content printed in English. It offered readers stories from Florida, the Caribbean, and Latin America. For example, readers can learn about the history of Miami, Las Ferias de Manizales (the largest and most symbolic celebration of the city of Manizales, Colombia), and "Bosquejos" ("Sketches") of countries like Haiti. This regional coverage offered glimpses into the life of residents of the featured nation.