The books published by Quimantú were sold at very low prices in bookshops and newspaper kiosks, in order to effectively make culture more accessible to the people.
[6]In 1973, Editorial Nacional Quimantú was closed after the 1973 Chilean coup d'état and subsequent dictatorial regime (supported by the United States [7]) led by General Augusto Pinochet, and many of its books were burned.
[8] In 1989, former general manager of the editorial Sergio Maurín came back from exile by the military regime and registered the name for ten years with the intention of "constituting it as an anonymous society and making it big" with other former members.
[1] A decade later, the idea of making an alternative, popular editorial emerged in an "extraparliamentary left-wing collective", and thus the name Quimantú was registered again in 2000, and its first title, "Agenda del Che 2002", published in November 2001.
The refounded company is currently managed by Mario Ramos, and books are distributed independently from traditional bookstores - as this would increase end consumer costs considerably - preferring popular fairs, including their own "Yo me libro".