El Madhi Ben Barka, President of the International Preparatory Committee (who was subsequently kidnaped in France and is now presumed murdered), sounded the Conference theme in sessions of the Preparatory Committee.

Ben Barka pointed out at the September 1964 meeting held in .Moshi, Tanganyika, that the proposed Tricontinental Conference would blend the two great currents of world revolution: That which was born in 1917 with the Russian Revolution, and that which represents the anti-imperialist and national liberation movements of today. He thought it significant that the forthcoming Conference would be held in Cuba, because, he declared, the Cuban Revolution is the realization of these two currents.

He indicated that the anti-imperialist and national liberation movements must adopt a global strategy on a tricontinental scale. "We must achieve greater coordination in the struggle of all the peoples, as the problems in Vietnam, the Congo and the Dominican Republic stem from the same source: U.S. imperialism," he pointed out.

Ben Barka declared that each one of the anti-imperialist organizations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America were selected by the groups represented in the International Preparatory Committee, and that in those nations where there are several organizations, a National Front was formed. Said Ben Barka: "This will lead to a greater unity among the anti-imperialist forces of each country, initiating a positive process among organizations in which at times there are secondary differences, in the face of an enemy that wants to be an international gendarme. This is the spirit in Ahich the Conference will meet in Havana."

The Cuban section of the International Preparatory Committee included Armando Hart, Organizing Secretary and Foreign Relations Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and Osmani Cienfuegos, Cuban Minister of Construction and Communist Party leader.

"We must prepare well for this international event," said Fidel Castro, "and greet it with our best efforts in all fields."

"There is an intense mobilization of the people regarding the Tricontinental Conference, the holding, of which coincides with the VII Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution," added Armando Hart.

The Castro regime outdid itself in preparation for the occasion. No expense was spared. -Nor has any accounting of the sources of funds or their disposal been made public.

The Cuban Institute for Friendship Among the Peoples mustered up 100 luxurious automobiles, expropriated from industrialists, property owners, and government officials, for the expected guests.

One hundred and fifty guides, who were specially prepared by teachers from the Schools for Revolutionary Instruction, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were recruited.

The Ministry of Education arranged a program in cooperation with the Young Co-mmunist Union, the High School Students Union, the University Students Federation, and the Pioneers Union.

The Federation of Cuban Women, in a meeting attended by 3,500 delegates from all parts of the nation, initiated plans for parties, study circles, sports events, children's parties, parades, and simultaneous chess matches .

All such activities were conducted during the months of November and December in salute to the Tricontinental Conference and the VII Anniversary of the Cuba Revolution.

The Federation of Cuban Women organized many other activities heralding these two important events. There was the Women Workers' Conference; the opening of an experimental workshop for women's fashions; a productive work period dedicated to planting fruit and timber trees, and the harvesting of vegetables; the studying at regional and sectional levels of all material published by the Tricontinental Conference Preparatory Committee; and collective contribution of thousands of hours of volunteer work by women.

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution organized 60,000 study circles, held conferences and seminars, ,and had lectures on the situations existing in Asian, African, and Latin American countries, withthereportedparticipationof2,150,000members. They also organized mural exhibitions, decorated streets with flags of the participants in the Tricontinental Conference, and held seminars on the Conference in the 3,100 section headquarters throughout the Nation.

In honor of the occasion, 50,000 -people were served a supper beneath Marti's statue in the Plaza de la Revolucion. A giant "History of Cuba" exhibition was set up on La Rampa. Delegates were bailed at provincial fiestas. Nightclub stars furnished entertainment. Greeting came from the following Communist leaders: China's Chou En-lai, North Korea's Kim II Sung, North Vietnam's President Ho Chi Minh, Mongolia's Yu Tsedenbal , USSR Council of Ministers Chairman Aleksei Kosygin, and Leonid Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Central Committee. It all added up to an enormous lift for the prestige of the Castro regime.

A strenuous campaign was mounted to beautify Havana--an important point in the preparations to salute the historic event. A commission composed of representatives from various organizations decided to turn the empty city lots into "Friendship Gardens," to plant "Solidaritv Trees" in the City and provinces, collect rubbish, scrap iron, and old signs.

The Cuba Trade Union Center presented, throughout the capital, groups of entertainers from each of the 25 National Trade Unions. These groups performed songs and dances from each of the countries participating in the Tricontinental Conference. Programs for the Conference were printed in each of the languages represented therein. All work centers were decorated, and a special effort was made to increase production during this period.

To popularize the occasion both at home and abroad, masses of documents relating to the Tricontinental Conference, interviews, special reports, radio and TV coverage, were printed and distributed. In addition, a special call issued by the Cuban national Committee, said in part:It will be the first time in history that revolutionaries from three continents will meet, in a conference such as this. The representatives of anti-imperialist organizations from the most distant parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America who struggle for liberation or national consolidation, will meet to firmly confront the threat created by U.S. imperialism that is manifest in aggressions in Vietnam, the Congo, and the Dominican Republic."

"Let us make the preparations work for a giant mobilization of all sectors of the country to fulfill the ambitious goals established by the Communist Party of Cuba and its First Secretary, Fidel Castro," continued the statement of the National Committee.

"This Conference," declared Dr. Raul Roa, Cuban Minister of Foreign Aff airs, and mem'@,er of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, speaking before the United Nations Organization, "has been called in order to strengthen even more the bonds of solidarity among the peoples of the three continents, and at the same time will be a point of departure for broadening and deepening the development of their struggle against colonialism, neocolonialism and imperialism, for social progress, economic development and world peace."

As a final production, the Conference more than jusfified the massive and elaborate preparations that went into its organization.