Last month, there was an event in Havana to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Tricontinental Conference, a major international gathering held in the Cuban capital between January 3 and 13, 1966. This came just as the standoff between the United States and Venezuela escalated dramatically, with US troops seizing President Nicolás Maduro, killing all thirty-two of the Cuban soldiers protecting him, and imposing a quasi-blockade of Cuba’s oil supplies.

The alarming contemporary backdrop makes this an especially apposite moment to reflect on the purpose and legacy of the Tricontinental Conference. The 1966 event attracted 512 activists, mostly anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, from eighty-two countries or colonies from what was then known as the “Third World.” They were joined by 270 journalists and observers, including large delegations from the USSR and China (which, however, were largely left on the margins).

At a time of open schism between Cuba’s leaders and the more cautious Soviet Union, it was a high-profile episode. While Moscow saw it as an opportunity to outflank China’s influence in Africa and Asia, many outsiders believed that Havana was taking over Moscow’s pet project or attempting to lead the Third World against US imperialism and away from the Soviet Cold War strategy of “peaceful coexistence.”