This paper presents a review of the Hungarian reception of contemporary Cuban fiction in different areas of the Hungarian press, published between 1959 and 1989. After giving a brief summary of the establishment and development of Hungarian-Cuban diplomatic and bilateral relations, the article offers a concise description of the communist period's cultural landscape, especially the press and publishing landscape, and examines the similarities and differences between Hungarian and Cuban cultural policies. In order to highlight the apparently paradoxical fact that, despite the close political and cultural ties between the two countries, the reception of Cuban literature was quite moderate, we examine reviews that appeared in the Hungarian press of Cuban anthologies, volumes of short stories, and novels published in Hungary. The article puts special emphasis on the Hungarian editions of Alejo Carpentier's works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]