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The construction of an Ibero-American space for culture is a possible mission, although it takes place in delicate and fragile political contexts. Above all, it requires numerous efforts on the part of the states that make up the Ibero-American Community of Nations (CIN) and, especially, a high degree of political will. The creation of such a cultural space is the result of many factors, although the following stand out: a) the existence of cultural ties between the countries of the Ibero-American region, which are unlikely to disappear or weaken despite the political actions of some governments in the region, and b) the postulates that the heads of state and government have defended at the various Ibero-American summits that have been held to date, at which culture, in one way or another, has been conceived as a fundamental part of Ibero-American cooperation. From this perspective, three considerations could be made that are quite useful in outlining the content and scope of the Ibero-American cultural space

The existence of cultural ties in Ibero-America

Between the concepts of America, Ibero-America and Latin America, the concept of Ibero-America has been favoured in the cultural field. Curiously, the concept that suffers most in political terms on the international scene is that of Ibero-America, due to distorted visions of historical development, but it is the one that has triumphed in the cultural field and in the various manifestations of cultural cooperation among Ibero-Americans. The Ibero-American identity has thus surpassed, in terms of culture, other identities in the region that would be fully complementary, such as the Latin American or American identities, and in which there are also relevant contents of a cultural nature. Culture is the cornerstone of cooperation in Ibero-America and one of the hallmarks of the identity of Ibero-American countries, even extending to other countries that do not participate in Ibero-American summits, such as Spanish- and/or Portuguese-speaking African and Asian countries. Moreover, Ibero-America is identified and recognised on the international scene by the cultural issue. As I have had the opportunity to point out: “I am convinced that Ibero-American culture is one of the most characteristic and powerful elements of identity of the CIN, although membership or not, as a full member of this Community, has been formulated on the basis of other criteria that were established at the Guadalajara Summit in 1991 and that do not contemplate culture in its own sense as a specific criterion but only in some of its more particular aspects, such as the fact of sharing certain languages”¹.