The results of a research project on the translation of the Costa Rican short story are presented. Sixteen translation anthologies with translations of Costa Rican short stories, published in the United States during the second half of the 20th century, were analyzed from a sociological perspective (Thompson 1990). The objective was to determine the forces behind their production as well as the image they portray of the source literature and, in the process, shed some light on the mechanics governing the translation of minority literatures and their emergence in linguistic and literary hegemonic contexts. After contrasting the contextual, sociosituational, and paratextual realities of the sixteen anthologies, it is possible to conclude that the translation of minority literatures is a subsidiary and instrumental activity with no apparent capacity to set its own goals and is at the service of primary activities and systems that rule over it.