Cuba, Palestine, and the Internationalist Solidarity Against Imperialist Counterinsurgency: OSPAAAL and the Cold War (1966–1980s)

Established after the Tricontinental Conference in Havana (1966), the Tricontinental sphere was a seminal space of encounter for Third World anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggles. Through the long political and cultural action of the Organization of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America (OSPAAAL), it is possible to trace both pressing Third World issues and shifts in Cuban foreign policy over time. This article examines how this unfolds regarding the Palestinian struggle from the mid-1960s to the 1980s through OSPAAAL's official organs: Tricontinental magazine and bulletin. Their content shifted from an early emphasis on guerrilla warfare toward growing engagement with diplomacy, coinciding with Cuba's increasingly active role at the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement. Additionally, OSPAAAL's internationalism also served as a platform for denunciation, notably framing Israel as a Western imperialist outpost, not only in Palestine but across other contexts like South Africa, Rhodesia, and Nicaragua. The Tricontinental sphere thus played a dual role in the Cuba-Palestine relationship, combining solidarity between nations aiming for liberation and denunciation of the imperialist oppression both suffered. These dynamics, traced until the dismemberment of the Soviet bloc, reveal how, despite successive obstacles, these genealogies of internationalism have strengthened to the present day.