The U.S.S.R. had much to gain by giving moral and material support to the Tricontinental Conference.

The Conference established an instrument through which the Soviet Union could effectively conduct subversive operations in every country of North and South America, Asia, and Africa.

Speakers at the Tricontinental Conference referred repeatedly to efforts being made to attract students, particularly those front Latin America, to attend the schools for subversion which have been established in the Soviet Union and its satellites.

In its clash with Communist China, the Tricontinental Conference furnished an opportunity for a major Soviet propaganda victory over its Chinese rival.

As early as December 9, 1965, a month before the Tricontinental Congress, Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Gromyko spoke before the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. and expressed his deep interest and support for the Congress. He felt that the Conference would provide an ample forum of representatives of anti-colonialist countries and anti-imperialist forces." He declared that "the Soviet Union as a participating factor, will do everything it can to support the struggle for peace and for national liberation and for the conference's success."

Sharaf Rashidovich Rashidov arrived at the Conference as head of a strong Soviet delegation. He will be remembered as a holder of important posts in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Government, notably: Presidium chairman Uzbek Supreme Soviet; deputy chairman, Presidium, U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet; Bureau member, Central Committee, Uzbek Communist Party; candidate member, Central Committee, Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

In his address before the Plenary session of the Tricontinental Conference on January 7, 1966, he began with some sugary plunges calculated to enhance the prestige of Fidel Castro and his regime. "We can see with our own eyes," he said, the great successes achieved by the Cuban people in creating a Dew social system...... Free Cuba," he declared, "the first socialist state on the American continent-symbolizes the invincibility of a people fighting for liberation from the oppression of imperialism and for socialism."

Then he assured the Conference of all-out Soviet aid. He stressed "that the Soviet delegation has arrived at this conference with the aim of giving all-round assistance to the unification of the anti-imperialist forces of the three continents in order to provide greater impetus to our common struggle against imperialism, colonialism and neocolonialism-led by the U.S. capitalists." Mr. Rashidov seems to have conveniently forgotten the Soviet phrases widely circulated in the United States about peaceful coexistence, disarmament, and cultural exchange.

With regard to the American effort to free the people of Vietnam from the threat of Communist enslavement, Rashidov minced no words. He charged that:

In Asia, the piratical policies of imperialism have been especially vividly expressed in the criminal aggressive war waged by the U.S.A. against the heroic people of Vietnam. The United States is subjecting the cities and villages of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to barbaric air raids, destroying the civilian population, burning the crops, destroying industrial enterprises and communications.

The Soviet people resolutely condemn the aggression of the U.S.A. against the Vietnamese people, and express their solidarity with the heroic struggle against the modern barbarians.

All over the Soviet Union crowded meetings and demonstrations of working people are being held, at which millions of workers, collective farmers, office workers, and intellectuals are expressing their indignation and are protesting

against the shameful and dirty war waged by U.S. imperialists in Vietnam. * *

Rashidov did not, of course, indicate that these meetings were organized by the Soviet Government itself.

Rashidov spoke boastfully in describing the military aid of the Soviet Union to Vietnam. He said:

The Soviet Union is supplying the fraternal people of Vietnam with the most modern weapons for meeting U.S. aggression.

We are doing everything in order that the deliveries of Soviet military equipment--aircraft, rockets, artillery, ammunition, and so on-will get into the hands of the Vietnamese freedom fighters as rapidly as possible.

We Soviet people are happy that the military equipment which the workers of the land of Soviets are producing at their enterprises with such great enthusiasm also helps the cause of the victory of our Vietnamese brothers over the aggressor.

Then Rashidov made certain definite proposals which were subserviently approved by the Conference delegates. He proposed that an international fund be set up to aid the Communist forces in Vietnam. He proposed the "development all over the world of a mighty mass protest against the dirty war waged by the U.S. imperialists in Vietnam, the demand that it be immediately stopped and the armed forces of the U.S.A. and its allies be recalled from Vietnam."

Saluting the Communist-dominated guerrilla forces in South America, he declared that, "We express our fraternal solidarity with the armed struggle being waged by the Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian, and Guatemalan patriots for freedom against the stooges of imperialism."

After making a powerful appeal for revolutionary unity which clearly put the delegates of Communist China on the spot, Mr. Rashidov declared that "the Soviet delegation supports the proposal to set up at this conference an Organization of Tricontinent Solidarity," adding the proposal that "from January 3 to 10, an international week of solidarity of the three continents in the struggle against colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism" be held.

Hardly had these words been uttered when Rashidov and his fellow Soviet diplomats were compelled to voice hypocritical apologies to the dupes throughout the world who had taken seriously the Soviet assurances regarding peaceful coexistence. On February 17, 1966 the New York Times called attention to the fact that "Soviet officials are making quiet disclaimers of the aggressive calls for revolution in Latin America, Africa, and Asia issued at last month's Tricontinental conference in Havana." The author pointed out that the Soviet Union "seems to have been led by its desire to outflank the Chinese" effort to appear more revolutionary than Moscow.

The Uruguayan Government acted promptly and vigorously by summoning the Soviet Ambassador in Montevideo to the Foreign Ministry to explain the statements of Rashidov. With tongue in cheek, the Soviet Ambassador assured the Uruguayan Minister that Rashidov was speaking "privately" and not for the Soviet Government. TASS reports of the Tricontinental Conference proceedings were toned down considerably from those issued by Prensa Latina, the Communist Cuban -press agency.

Argentine officials also expressed serious displeasure with Rashidov's speech.

The fact that the Soviet Union has emerged as the principal architect of revolutionary violence in the hemisphere was recognized by the Special Consul Committee on Security of the OAS. Speaking about the Havana Conference, the report of the committee said:

The Committee recognized that the tremendous significance of the event, of major seriousness inasmuch as it means a declaration of war against the democracies, lies in the fact that it is no longer Cuba on its own initiative that proposes to export its "revolution" to the other countries of the hemisphere, but Russia that makes common cause with the "revolutionary movements" and promises determined support to the "popular liberation movements" that follow the example of Cuba.

The Soviet delegation, headed by Rashidov, left Havana on January 16, 1966. Members of the delegation were bid farewell at the Jose Marti International Airport by Blas Roca, member of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), by the members of the PCC's central committee, and by other Cuban dignitaries.