As part of this Special Issue of International Microbiology celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Spanish Society for Microbiology (SEM), Guest Editor Rafael Giraldo invited us to contribute an opinion article on the topic of 75 years of joint scientific ventures between Latin American microbiologists and Spanish microbiologists. Since the creation of SEM in 1945 (Pérez Prieto, NoticiaSEM 98:1, 2016) Latin American microbiologists have been participants, both as individuals and as members of the national associations that are currently integrated into the Latin American Association for Microbiology (ALAM). Thus, the histories of Spanish and Latin American microbiology (Chica and Skinner, Int Microbiol 13:159–164, 2010; Chica, Int Microbiol 11:221–225, 2008) have been closely linked over the last 75 years. In order to provide our perspective on the topic, we decided to provide answers to three questions:

What are key aspects of the history of Spanish and Latin American Microbiology interactions? What have been some of our personal experiences in which these interactions shaped our careers? What is our outlook for the future of such interactions?

作为庆祝西班牙微生物学会 (SEM) 成立 75 周年的《国际微生物学特刊》的一部分，客座编辑 Rafael Giraldo 邀请我们就拉丁美洲之间 75 年的联合科学事业发表评论文章微生物学家和西班牙微生物学家。自 1945 年 SEM 成立以来（Pérez Prieto, NoticiaSEM 98:1, 2016），拉丁美洲的微生物学家一直是参与者，无论是作为个人还是作为目前并入拉丁美洲微生物学协会 (ALAM) 的国家协会的成员。因此，西班牙和拉丁美洲微生物学的历史（Chica 和 Skinner, Int Microbiol 13:159–164, 2010; Chica, Int Microbiol 11:221–225, 2008）在过去 75 年中密切相关。

西班牙和拉丁美洲微生物学相互作用历史的关键方面是什么？这些互动塑造了我们的职业生涯，我们有哪些个人经历​​？我们对这种互动的未来有何展望？