The Center for a Free Cuba (CFC), in collaboration with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, held the conference “Cuba: Sixty Years of Terror” on January 13, 2026 to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Tricontinental Conference held from January 3 to 15, 1966, where a network for international subversion and terrorism called the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) was created, costing many lives, and sowing discord in nations around the world.
The conference was held at the Victims of Communism Memorial Museum located at 900 15th St NW, Washington, DC 20005.
The gathering began at 8:45am and ended at 1:30pm. The conference featured terror victims, a U.S. congresswoman, a Colombian senator, a Colombian former vice president, analysts, intellectuals, activists, and international parliamentarians who discussed and analyzed the harm done, and the continuing danger posed by the terror international created to subvert, and destroy democracies replacing them with communist regimes allied to Beijing, Moscow, and Havana.
Among the participants were Joe Connor, son of Frank Connor who was murdered in a bombing by Havana backed FALN terrorists in New York City’s Fraunces Tavern, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL25), Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation, former Vice President of Colombia Pacho Santos, Colombian Senator María Fernanda Cabal, and Maite Araluce, President, Association of Victims of Terrorism, among others.
The event was introduced by the presidents of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and the Center for a Free Cuba, Dr. Eric Patterson and attorney Manuel Iglesias, respectively.
Havana held its own 60th anniversary of the Tricontinental Conference that began on January 12th and concluded on January 14, 2026.
Agenda
9:00 am Welcome
Dr. Eric Patterson,
President and CEO, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Manuel Iglesias,
President, Center for a Free Cuba
9:15 am–10:45 am Panel 1 – The Tricontinental Conference in Havana: The Internationalization of Terror
Mike González,
The Angeles T. Arredondo E Pluribus Unum Senior Fellow, The Heritage Foundation
John Suarez,
Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba
Maibort Petit,
Political scientist and journalist specializing in transnational organized crime
Moderator: Ana Harmata, Latin America Program Officer, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Keynote Speaker: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
11:00 am–12:30 pm Panel 2 – Cuba and Its Impact on Global Terrorism: ETA, USA, and the Colombian Guerrillas
Joe Connor,
Son of Frank Connor, murdered in the Fraunces Tavern attack in New York
Maite Araluce,
President, Association of Victims of Terrorism
Matías Jove,
Executive Director, Spanish Association Cuba in Transition
Francisco Santos Calderón,
Former Vice President of Colombia
Moderator: Vanessa Vallejo,
Economist and Washington, D.C. Correspondent, Voz Media
Keynote Speaker: Rosa María Payá, Executive Director of the Foundation for Pan-American Democracy
12:45 pm-1:10 pm Closing Remarks
Jorge Martín Frías,
Member of the European Parliament, Spain
María Fernanda Cabal,
Member of the Senate, Republic of Colombia