During August 24-27, 1993, approximately 60 scientists from the Americas, Europe and Japan, gathered in the city of Guanajuato, in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, at the II Latin American Workshop on Magnetism, Magnetic Materials and their Applications. The group of scientists converging into the beautiful city of Guanajuato had come from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, several places in Mexico, U. S. A. , Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark. The event attested to the success of the previous Workshop on Magnetism, Magnetic Materials and their Applications, held in Havana, Cuba, in 1991, as well as to the interest, level of activity and quality of the work being carried out in Latin America in the area of magnetism and magnetic materials. Equally important to everyone present was the fact that we had come to honor a friend, Professor L. M. Falicov, on his sixtieth birthday. The choice of a Latin American Workshop on magnetism as a Festschrift for Leo Falicov was, in our opinion, quite appropriate not only because of Leo's strong ties to Latin America, but also because of his superb contributions to science, and in particular, to magnetism. Professor Falicov was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he spent a good part of his formative years.