Cuba’s crime fiction tradition, though relatively recent, stands out in Latin America thanks to strong state support during the 1970s and 1980s. Early crime narratives emerged in film (1910s) and then in radio (1930s) and often reflected the era’s racial tensions, but the genre remained marginal until 1971, when a state-sponsored literary prize boosted its visibility as a tool for revolutionary education. The policial revolucionario genre dominated this period with formulaic, pro-revolutionary narratives. After the Soviet bloc’s collapse, the more critical neopolicial style emerged, followed by recent works marked by hybridisation and thematic diversification.