In January, 1966, representatives from revolutionary movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America attended the Tri-Continental Solidarity Conference in Havana, Cuba. Although the American press played down this most significant meeting, it was the first time since the 1955 Bandung Conference that the Third world met to discuss and organize world-wide efforts to defeat colonialism and imperialism. The attempt in 1965 to hold an Afro-Asian Unity Conference in Algiers was upset by the overthrow of Ben Bella and the bombed destruction of the meeting hall. It was obvious that a new conference could only be held in a country relatively safe from foreign intelligence agents and provecateurs.
The man in charge of bringing together overt and covert, legal and illegal revolutionary organizations from all over the world was Mehdi Ben Barka, an exiled Moroccan opposition leader. Based in Geneva, the city best suited for making contacts and distributing funds throughout the world, Ben Barka carried out the delicate operation of identifying and inviting the "right" factions in divided movements, weeding out hostile agents and making arrangements for travel. But in Oct., 1965 Ben Barka disappeared. After being arrested by Paris narcotics squad agents, he was delivered into the hands of the Moroccan Minister of Interior (and Intelligence), General Oufkir. Press accounts, especially in the U.S., emphasized his role in Moroccan politics and ignored his Third World responsibilities, thus putting the crime solely in the perspective of a narrow national feud. In the subsequent trials (still under way),it was brought out that Ben Barka was delivered into the hands of Moroccan Minister General Oufkir. Lawyers representing Ben Barka's family established that several ranking French officials knew of the plot. It was revealed that French underworld figures, in cooperation with the police and intelligence services, were deeply involved. A leading underworld informer who knew much about the case was found slain and three of the six layers representing Ben Barka's interests "died" within a 6 week period of "heart attacks" and a "cerebral hemorrhage" (N/Y.T. 3/17/67)
The probable underlying motive for Ben Barka's removal was clearly set forth by David Rousset of Le Fiparo Litteraire (10.20.66). The extension of the Afro-Asian Solidarity movement to Latin America (in 1963) as "considered by Washington a direct threat to the security of the United Sates. Since one of the main tasks of the Tricontinentale was to provide financial and military support for the guerrillas, as well as unify them and work out a common strategy for all the Latin American movements, its was by no means just one more conference." Therefore, "the main objective was not to kill Ben Barka, but to seize him, his information, and his archives " (emphasis added).
