The Tricontinental Conference was a gathering of countries that focused on anti-colonial and anti-imperial issues during the Cold War era, specifically those related to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The conference was held from 3rd to 16th January 1966, in Havana, Cuba, and was attended by roughly 500 delegates from 82 countries. It founded the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL). The key issues discussed at the conference were countries that were in the midst of revolutions, with a specific focus on Cuba and Vietnam.
Background In 1965, Algerian revolutionary Ahmed Ben Bella attempted to hold an Afro-Asian solidarity conference in Algiers. This, however, was prevented due to his overthrow and the bombing of the meeting hall. The attempt was fulfilled in 1965 when Mehdi Ben Barka, an exiled Moroccan opposition leader, brought together both legal and illegal revolutionary organizations from all over the world to partake in this conference, which took place in Havana at the Chaplin Theatre. The Tricontinental Conference was an extension of both the Bandung Conference (1955) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (1964). Bandung marked the emergence of a non-aligned movement and the building of a Third World anti-imperialist project, but the Tricontinental revolutionized liberation struggles by emphasizing violent action over non-violent action. Ben Barka was in charge of inviting various organizations and groups and made arrangements for their travel. While organizing the conference, Ben Barka initially chose Geneva as the city in which the conference was to occur because of its ideal position for communication and for distributing funds throughout the world. In October 1965, Barka was abducted in Paris by two French police officers, who sent him to the Moroccan Minister of Interior and Intelligence, General Oufkir. Details of his imprisonment and death are unclear, since he was never heard from again and did not attend the conference. Following Barka’s abduction, the location of the conference was moved to Havana.
The goal of the Tricontinental Conference was to merge Afro-Asian solidarity with Latin American solidarity and to develop a communist organization with the goal of international revolution. It was one of the largest gatherings of anti-imperialists in the world. In comparison to the Bandung Conference, the Tricontinental conference was more radical in its attempt to pose a challenge to capitalism. The conference resulted in the condemnation of imperialism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism. One of the key topics discussed at this Conference was the involvement of the United States in Vietnam, which was an indication of American imperial aggression towards former colonies. Many delegates pushed for more collaboration, support, solidarity, and demonstrations of revolutionary internationalism.
Attendees The Tricontinental Conference brought together around 500 delegates from the various liberation movements of 82 different countries. Though the full guest list was never published by the conference managers due to security concerns, a US Staff Report compiled out of anxiety over the communist nature of the participants succeeded in naming all delegates and involved countries. The Tricontinental was the first to include a strong Latin American presence, and the first to emphasize the political alignment of the three continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Notable conference attendees included anti-colonialist Amílcar Cabral of Guinea-Bissau and Nguyen Van Tien, the representative of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Other prominent figures included Fidel Castro, the Prime Minister of Cuba; Salvador Allende, at that time a Senator and president of the Chilean senate and later the President of Chile; and Asela de los Santos, one of the founder members of the Communist Party of Cuba. Notable absentees included Che Guevara, who, while fighting in Bolivia, sent a letter to be read to the delegates on his behalf; and Mehdi Ben Barka, the intended Chairman of the conference, whose disappearance two months prior sparked deep anti-imperialist tones during the event.
Some recorded participants were::
Agenda Content of the Conference Discussion at the conference centered on tricontinental integration, with emphasis on anticolonialism, anti-imperialism, revolutionary internationalism, and overall collaboration and support in these areas. Attending delegates had been brought together with the common goals of resistance to colonialism and imperialism, in addition to the establishment of an alliance across colonial national boundaries. Ideological formations, namely pan-Africanism and pan-Arabism, were further established at the conference to address the political fragmentations resulting from colonialism. Some delegates requested military and diplomatic support from other participants in their revolutionary and anti-colonial pursuits. Delegates also called for the removal of foreign military bases on the three continents and the ending of military pacts. The general consensus at the conference was notably anti-nuclear, in which delegates demanded the prohibition of various aspects of the usage and storage of nuclear weaponry and the dismantling of existing nuclear weaponry. However, the general declaration of the conference emphasized that the shared enemy of Asia, Africa, and Latin America was, without a doubt, American imperialism and interventionism.
Plenary sessions began on the morning of January 4 and for the next two days, each delegation chairman spoke to a full assembly. These delegates included Amilcar Cabral, Salvador Allende, and Luis Augusto Turcios Lima. Delegates were divided into individual committees where each worked on drafting resolutions. During the final few days of the conference, a plenary session was held where the final resolutions were declared and adopted by the attendees. One of the major goals of the conference was for the delegates to create a common strategy that they would commit to follow in order to fight against imperialism. The conference was also a way for the delegates to coordinate and increase the sense of solidarity between Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In creating close military ties and solidarity, the conference advocated a global militant resistance, one that was more radical and more open to violence than the Bandung Conference. The spirit of the conference was one characterized by third-world unity and revolutionary fervor. At his closing speech at the conference, Fidel Castro made the promise of Cuban aid to any revolutionary movement on any continent. He also emphasized the need for coordination among all revolutionary movements to combat perceived imperial domination.
Racial discrimination, both within the United States and in developing nations, was an important issue discussed by delegates, with a focus on the South African apartheid regime. Edward Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe African People's Union accused Britain of supporting the illegal government of Rhodesia. Che Guevara, who was not present at the conference, sent a message condemning British colonialism in Rhodesia and the white minority in southern Africa and denouncing the apartheid regime.
Delegates at the Tricontinental Conference not only condemned colonialism and imperialism; they also broadened the scope of their movement by explicitly stating their unity with movements within the United States, such as the Civil Rights movement. For the Tricontinental delegates, the United States was the prime instigator of imperialist aggression, and they believed the Civil Rights movement to be a crucial component of their cause.
In addition to national liberation and anti-imperialist struggles as being main issues on the agenda, delegates also discussed and debated models of economic development. During the conference, economic planning that prioritized nation development was emphasized in order to minimize economic ties to the West. Delegates agreed that such nation-building projects would be focused on accomplishing equality and social justice through radical measures, particularly through agrarian reform. In addition, delegates at the conference reached a consensus that the political and economic relations between Africa, Asia, and Latin America would be premised on the principles of equality and mutual interest, where no state would advance their own interests at the expense of another. In terms of international economics, the conference envisioned a new economic policy that saw the Global South as one entity; delegates agreed that the financial relationship with the West would no longer be subject to one-sided development needs. Instead, negotiations were viewed as an action undertaken collectively, based on the idea that the development of individual nations would be strongly connected to the overall development of the Global South. The Tricontinental Conference re-imagined a world characterized by cooperation and solidarity across the Global South.
American Intervention in Vietnam The American intervention in the Vietnam War was a major topic during the conference. All participants condemned the American war in Vietnam as imperialist and aggressive and further emphasized their support and solidarity with the Vietnamese. Nguyen Van Tien, the representative of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, requested support at the conference for the Vietnamese people against the Americans. Tran Danh Tuyen, the North Vietnamese representative, also proposed a resolution that the US end its war in South Vietnam unconditionally, stop bombing North Vietnam, withdraw American troops and arms from South Vietnam, dismantle military bases in South Vietnam, and respect Vietnamese sovereignty. The support and solidarity that Vietnamese resistance against US imperialism garnered during the conference were apparent in the pledge of “unrestricted support” to the Vietnamese by Cuban president Osvaldo Dorticos and Dominican representative Cayetano Rodriguez del Prado’s pledge to revolutionize the Dominican Republic into “the Vietnam of Latin America.” The idea of Vietnam as a model for other countries struggling against colonialism, neo-colonialism, and imperialism, particularly American imperialism, was a major theme throughout the discussions of the conference. Though not present at the Tricontinental Conference, Che Guevara sent a letter to be read at the conference in which he called for “two, three, many Vietnams” as a way to fight imperialism in the global south.
Dispute over OSPAAAL Headquarters location One area of conflict involved the question of where the headquarters of OSPAAAL, the organization that emerged from the Tricontinental, would be located after the conference. The Chinese delegation wished to maintain their influence in AAPSO (Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organization) and so pushed for the headquarters to be located in Havana and wanted OSPAAAL and AAPSO to remain two separate organizations. On the other hand, the Cuban delegation argued that there should be one, unified organization headquartered in Havana. The Soviets also wanted a single organization but with its headquarters in Cairo. However, the Chinese delegation threatened dissension if Cairo became the headquarters. In the end, the Chinese delegation emerged victorious as the delegates agreed to AAPSO as a separate organization and instead constructed a new Tricontinental organization, headquartered provisionally in Havana. The final decision made was that the final structure of OSPAAAL would be decided at a second Tricontinental conference in Cairo in 1968.
Resolutions adopted By the end of the conference, delegates adopted the following resolutions: