1 Fidel Castro, closing speech (Cultural Congress of Havana, 12 January 1968), in Reunión de intelectuales de todo el mundo sobre problemas de Asia, África y América Latina [Meeting of Intellectuals from Around the World on Problems of Asia, Africa and Latin America] (Havana: Instituto del Libro, 1968), 57–71.
2 René Depestre, ‘Las aventuras de la negritud’ [The Adventures of Négritude] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 42–46.
3 The attendance figures vary according to different accounts, but the numbers used here appear in the congress’s concluding documents, in CCH 1968, 46, 48, 57.
4 For more on the PAIGC’s cultural programme, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, The PAIGC’s Political Education for Liberation in Guinea-Bissau, 1963–74, Studies on National Liberation no. 1, 1 July 2022, https://thetricontinental.org/studies-1-national-liberation-paigc-education/.
5 The Spanish hombre (man) and formación integral del hombre (integral formation of man), as used in the congress documents, are rendered here as ‘man’ and ‘integral formation of man’ to preserve the original language. Though gendered, hombre in this context referred not only to men but to the human being in its totality. ‘Formation’ is used in this context throughout the dossier to reflect the Spanish formación and the congress’s understanding of the new human being as developing through revolutionary practice, education, labour, and collective social transformation. Unlike ‘creation’, which can suggest a more absolute or instantaneous act, ‘formation’ preserves the emphasis on an ongoing process.
6 CCH 1968, 4.
7 María Berríos, ‘“Now History Happens Here”: Del Tercer Mundo’, in The East Was Read: Socialist Culture in the Third World, ed. Vijay Prashad (New Delhi: LeftWord Books, 2019), 101–19.
8 ‘Declaración General del Congreso Cultural de La Habana’ [General Declaration of the Cultural Congress of Havana], in CCH 1968, 49–50.
9 For more on the Congress for Cultural Freedom, see Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters (New York: New Press, 2000).
10 Cited in Michele Hardesty, ‘The Appeal of Cuba: The 1968 Havana Cultural Congress and US Intellectuals’, in Neocolonial Fictions of the Global Cold War, eds. Steven Belletto and Joseph Keith (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2019), 61.
11 OSPAAAL, Primera Conferencia Tricontinental: Documentos y Resoluciones [First Tricontinental Conference: Documents and Resolutions] (Havana: OSPAAAL, 1966), 127–40; Valeria González Lage, ‘Objetivos, discursos y protagonistas del Congreso Cultural de La Habana (1968)’ [Objectives, Discourses, and Protagonists of the Cultural Congress of Havana (1968)], SÉMATA 31 (2019): 276–77.
12 González Lage, ‘Objetivos, discursos y protagonistas’, 283–84.
13 CCH 1968; Hélène Parmelin, ‘Au congrès culturel de La Havane’ [At the Cultural Congress in Havana], Raison présente 6 (April–June 1968): 3–20.
14 González Lage, ‘Objetivos’, 276, citing Fidel Castro, Discurso pronunciado en la conmemoración del IX Aniversario del triunfo de la Revolución [Speech Delivered on the Ninth Anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution], 2 January 1968; and Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba, Informaciones del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba acerca de las actividades de la microfacción [Reports of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Concerning the Activities of the Microfaction] (Havana: Instituto del Libro, 1968).
15 Organisation of American States, Special Consultative Committee on Security, Cultural Congress of Havana (Washington, DC: Pan American Union, ca. 1968).
16 Roberto Fernández Retamar, Calibán (1971; Mexico City: Editorial Diógenes, 1974), 34–35.
17 Katerina González Seligmann, ‘Calibán, Why?’, Small Axe 23, no. 3 (2019): 49–54, 76–77.
18 Rafael Magdiel Sánchez Quiroz, comp., Fernando Martínez Heredia: Pensar en tiempo de Revolución; Antología esencial [Fernando Martínez Heredia: Thinking in a Time of Revolution: Essential Anthology] (Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2018).
19 Fernando Martínez Heredia, ‘Colonialismo y cultura nacional’ [Colonialism and National Culture] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 15–19; for our thesis on the future as militant orientation see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, The Future, dossier no. 100, 5 May 2026, https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-the-future/.
20 Moreno Fraginals, ‘Algunos aspectos del mensaje radial’ [Some Aspects of the Radio Message] (speech, commission IV, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 71–74; Edmundo Desnoes, ‘Las armas secretas’ [The Secret Weapons] (speech, commission IV, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 13–17.
21 Lajpat Rai befriended the Pakistani delegate Abdullah Malik at the congress. Malik, a communist journalist based in London, was invited because Pakistan’s most prominent poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, was prevented from attending by the military dictatorship. See Ali Raza, ‘Dispatches from Havana: The Cold War, Afro-Asian Solidarities, and Culture Wars in Pakistan’, Journal of World History 30, nos. 1–2 (June 2019): 223–46.
22 Lajpat Rai, ‘El “Tercer Mundo” y la responsabilidad de los intelectuales’ [The ‘Third World’ and the Responsibility of Intellectuals] (speech, commission III, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 10–17.
23 Gisèle Halimi, ‘De la cultura de opresión a la cultura de emancipación’ [From the Culture of Oppression to the Culture of Emancipation] (speech, commission III, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 136–44.
24 Kim Youn Seun and Pak Hai Chin, ‘Problemas sobre la cultura y la independencia nacional’ [Problems of Culture and National Independence] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 172–81.
25 Alex La Guma, ‘Literatura y resistencia en África del Sur’ [Literature and Resistance in South Africa] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 20–29; English translation in Silber, Voices, 48–53.
26 Horacio Zalce, ‘Penetración del imperialismo en la medicina en los países subdesarrollados’ [Imperialist Penetration of Medicine in the Underdeveloped Countries] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 30–31.
27 ‘Subcommission I Resolution, Commission V’, in CCH 1968, 34–39.
28 Aníbal Rodríguez and Fernando Barral, ‘Sociología, investigaciones sociales y subdesarrollo en América Latina’ [Sociology, Social Research, and Underdevelopment in Latin America] (speech, commission V, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 2–6.
29 ‘Resolution of Commission IV’, in CCH 1968, 30.
30 Tu Huynh, co-president of commission V, quoted in Silber, Voices, 102.
31 ‘Resolution of Commission IV’, in CCH 1968, 30.
32 For more on Mário Pinto de Andrade, see ROAPE, ‘Documenting the Life of Mário Coelho Pinto de Andrade’ (2025).
33 Abílio Duarte, ‘Responsabilidades del intelectual frente a los problemas del Tercer Mundo’ [Responsibilities of the Intellectual Facing the Problems of the Third World] (speech, commission III, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 104–7; English translation in Silber, Voices, 145–48.
34 ‘Resolution of Commission III’, in CCH 1968, 28.
35 René Depestre, ‘Las aventuras de la negritud’ [The Adventures of Négritude] (speech, commission I, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 42–46.
36 Depestre, ‘Las aventuras de la negritud’, CCH 1968, 42–46.
37 Depestre, see Paul B. Miller, ‘¿Un cubano más?: An Interview with René Depestre about his Cuban Experience’, Afro-Hispanic Review 34, no. 2 (Fall 2015): 159–78.
38 Differing slightly from Depestre’s CCH speech cited here, Senghor’s original formulation uses ‘hellène’ (Hellenic) rather than ‘blanche’ (white) and appears in Ce que l’homme noir apporte [What the Black Man Brings] (Paris: Plon, 1939).
39 Depestre, ‘Las aventuras de la negritud’, CCH 1968, 46.
40 Depestre, ‘Las aventuras de la negritud’, CCH 1968, 46.
41 For more on Dennis Brutus, see South African History Online, ‘Dennis Brutus’, sahistory.org.za/people/dennis-brutus; Dennis Brutus, ‘El racismo en el deporte: un obstáculo en el desarrollo del hombre integral’ [Racism in Sport: An Obstacle to the Integral Development of Man] (speech, commission II, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 34–37, own translation.
42 For more on Makdissi Antoun (Antun Maqdisi, 1914–2005), see the Prince Claus Fund, https://princeclausfund.nl/awardees/antun-maqdesi.
43 Makdissi Antoun, ‘Revolución y cultura’ [Revolution and Culture] (speech, commission II, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 99–102, own translation.
44 Fidel Castro, closing speech, in CCH 1968, 57–71; Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, ‘Socialism and Man in Cuba’, in On Socialism and Internationalism (New Delhi: LeftWord Books, 2020), p. 63, https://thetricontinental.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Che_Guevara_On_Socialism_and_Internationalism_EN.pdf.
45 Eduardo Lara, ‘El papel del trabajo en la educación integral del hombre’ [The Role of Work in the Integral Formation of Man] (speech, commission II, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 62–65, own translation.
46 ‘El Hombre Nuevo’ [The New Man] (collective text, Información de Cuba, commission II, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 73–79, own translation.
47 ‘Resolution of Commission II’, in CCH 1968, 22–25, own translation.
48 ‘Declaración General del Congreso Cultural de La Habana’ [General Declaration of the Cultural Congress of Havana], in CCH 1968, 54, own translation.
49 Elena Díaz and Natasha Klein, ‘La mujer en Cuba revolucionaria’ [Women in Revolutionary Cuba] (speech, commission II, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 116–32, own translation.
50 Mario Benedetti, ‘Sobre las relaciones entre el hombre de acción y el intelectual’ [On the Relations between the Man of Action and the Intellectual] (speech, commission III, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 5–9, own translation; cited in González Lage, ‘Objetivos’, 287; for more on the role of intellectuals, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, ‘A Revolution Can Only Be the Child of Culture and Ideas’, Art Bulletin no. 27, 31 May 2026, https://thetricontinental.org/art-bulletin-culture-and-ideas-in-revolution/.
51 ‘Resolution of Commission III’, in CCH 1968, 29–30, own translation.
52 C. L. R. James, ‘La responsabilidad de los intelectuales’ [The Responsibility of the Intellectuals] (speech, commission III, Cultural Congress of Havana, January 1968), 67–68; English translation in Silber, Voices, 118. On James at the Congress, see González Seligmann, ‘Calibán, Why?’.
53 Castro, closing speech, in CCH 1968, 62–63, own translation.
54 Castro, closing speech, in CCH 1968, 65–66, own translation.
55 Castro, closing speech, in CCH 1968, 67, own translation.
56 Andrew Salkey, Havana Journal (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971), 217–18.
57 ‘Llamamiento de La Habana’ [The Havana Appeal], in CCH 1968, 46–47, own translation.
58 For more on Augusto Boal’s approach, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, ‘Augusto Boal’s Copernican Revolution in Reverse’, art bulletin no. 17, 27 July 2025, https://thetricontinental.org/augusto-boals-copernican-revolution-in-reverse/.
59 For more on the 1973 coup, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, The Coup Against the Third World: Chile, 1973, dossier no. 68, 5 September 2023, https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-68-the-coup-against-the-third-world-chile-1973/.
60 CCH 1968, 16–17, own translation.
61 For more on hyper-imperialism, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Hyper-Imperialism: A Dangerous Decadent New Stage, Contemporary Dilemmas no. 4, 23 January 2024, https://thetricontinental.org/studies-on-contemporary-dilemmas-4-hyper-imperialism/.
62 For more on the new intellectual, see Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, The New Intellectual, dossier no. 12, February 2019, https://thetricontinental.org/the-new-intellectual/; for more on the battle of emotions, see Ten Theses on Marxism and Decolonisation, dossier no. 56, 20 September 2022, https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-ten-theses-on-marxism-and-decolonisation/.
63 Dorticós, opening speech, in CCH 1968, 10, own translation.