The Latin American Mycological Association (ALM for its abbreviation in Spanish and Portuguese) was created during the V Latin American Botanical Congress held in Havana, Cuba, during the 24-29 of June of 1990. The creation of the ALM was possible due to the original idea of Dr. Gastón Guzmán, who had thought of it more than a decade ago, during his trips across South America.
        Cuban mycologists, especially Dr. Miguel Rodríguez (deceased), accepted the idea enthusiastically. This made possible in part the consolidation of the new association. For that reason, in the same meeting in Havana in 1990, the first board of directors of the ALM was elected under the presidency of Dr. Rodríguez. This board constituted, among other things, the bylaws and the logo of the ALM after an inquiry among all members, through a special committee created for that purpose. In 1993, they organized the 1st Latin American Mycological Congress, in Havana. Around the same time, the first directory of members was published in the Revista Iberoamericana de Micología [Vol. 10(1)]. The collaboration of Dr. José M. Torres, editor of this journal at that time, was very important in order to accomplish that objective. In the general assembly of that congress, Dr. Rodríguez was re-elected for the next three-year period.
        In 1995, Dr. Jorge E. Wright and Dr. Daniel Cabral, both from Argentina (both also deceased) edited the first bulletin of the ALM. One year later, in 1996, also in Havana, the 2nd Latin American Mycological Congress was carried out and the board for the period 1997-1999 was elected. The latter was directed by Dra. Gioconda San Blas fromVenezuela.
        The Venezuelan organizing committee presented a new logo, developed the first website of the association, published a second directory of the active members and organized the 3rd Latin American Congress in Caracas in 1999. In the general assembly of that congress the problem of having two logos was discussed. After a short discussion, the original logo of the ALM was selected.
        In the same meeting in Caracas, Dr. Gastón Guzmán was elected president for the period 2000-2002. Dr. Guzmán named Dr. Gerardo Mata as vicepresident and both of them worked together organizing the ALM website, registering the association and publishing two issues of the association's bulletin. In 2002, they organized the 4th Latin American Congress in Xalapa, Mexico. During the general assembly of that congress, Dr. José Carmine Dianese from Brasil was elected as president of the ALM for the 2003-2005 period.
        Dr. Carmine Dianese organized the 5th Latin American Mycological Congress in 2005 in Brasilia. In that Congress, Dr. Daniel Cabral from Argentina was elected as president for the period 2006-2008. Dr. Cabral organized the 6th Latin American Mycological Congress in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 2008. Unfortunately, weeks before the meeting, Dr. Cabral passed away. However, given the effort of the rest of board, presided by the vice president and new de-facto president Dr. Sofia Chulze and the support of the organizing committee, that congress was succesfully carried out.
        Before dying, Dr. Cabral had the great idea of honoring the pioneers of Latin American mycology during the congress. Among them Drs. Carlos L. Spegazzini from Argentina, Carlos Chardón from Puerto Rico, Augusto Chávez Batista from Brasil, María Eneida Kauffmann Fidalgo from Brasil, Pablo Negroni from Argentina, Miguel Rodríguez from Cuba, Carlos da Silva Lacaz from Brasil and Jorge E. Wright from Argentina (all of them in order of year of decease from 1926 to 2008). In that Congress, Dr. Cabral was also honored. During the general assembly of that congress, Dr. Julieta Carranza from Costa Rica was elected as the new president of the ALM for the 2009-2011 period.