Name/Title
Commemorative Lighter — First Tricontinental Conference (Primera Conferencia de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de África, Asia y América Latina), Havana, 1966Entry/Object ID
2025.2.21Description
A rectangular brass flip-top petrol lighter (Zippo-style, hinged windscreen lid). One broad face is stamped in black-filled capitals, the text running across both lid and body: on the lid, "PRIMERA / CONFERENCIA"; on the body, "DE SOLIDARIDAD / DE LOS PUEBLOS / DE AFRICA, / ASIA / Y / AMERICA LATINA." The opposite face carries, in black, the Tricontinental/OSPAAAL emblem: a clenched fist and forearm gripping a rifle, superimposed on a wireframe globe of meridians and parallels.Use
Per the holder, the lighter was a gift to conference participants, obtained by Theodore E. "Ted" Veltfort — Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran then working in Cuba's electronics industry — and preserved by his stepdaughter, the illustrator Anna Veltfort (author of Goodbye, My Havana / Adiós mi Habana), who lived in Havana with the family during the 1960s.Context
The inscription names the First Conference of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America — the First Tricontinental Conference — held in Havana 3–15 January 1966 with more than 500 delegates from 82 nations, which founded the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL). Cuba designated 1966 the "Año de la Solidaridad," and the conference was a landmark of Third World anti-imperialist and anti-colonial alignment; it was at this moment that Che Guevara's "Message to the Tricontinental" ("create two, three… many Vietnams") is associated. The fist-gripping-rifle-over-globe device became the enduring emblem of OSPAAAL and its magazine Tricontinental. This lighter is a small conference souvenir bearing that founding iconography.Collection
Anna Veltfort collection, Ted Veltfort collectionAcquisition
Accession
2025.2Source or Donor
Anna VeltfortAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Date made
1966Time Period
1960sPlace
Country
JapanContinent
AsiaEdition
Tricontinental conferenceNotes
lManufacturer/Attribution: Unmarked on the visible surfaces; maker not identified. The lighter mechanism is a commercially produced blank decorated for the conference.
Date: circa 1966 (contemporaneous with the conference it commemorates).Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
InscriptionLocation
sideTranscription
PRIMERA CONFERENCIA DE SOLIDARIDAD DE LOS POEBLOS DE AFRICA, ASIA Y AMERICA LATINALanguage
SpanishTranslation
FIRST SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE OF THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA, ASIA AND LATIN AMERICAMaterial/Technique
EtchedType
InscriptionLocation
bottomTranscription
JAPANLanguage
EnglishMaterial/Technique
EtchedNotes
Face 1 (text): "PRIMERA CONFERENCIA DE SOLIDARIDAD DE LOS PUEBLOS DE AFRICA, ASIA Y AMERICA LATINA."
Face 2 (device): OSPAAAL/Tricontinental emblem (fist with rifle over globe), no lettering.
Bottom: "JAPAN"Dimensions
Height
3.3 cmWidth
2.9 cmDepth
0.5 cmParts
Brass outer case with hinged lid; removable lighter insert (wick, flint wheel, flint, internal fuel packing).Materials
Material
MetalMaterial Notes
Brass (case); steel and other metals (insert, flint wheel, hinge); cotton wick; flint; black paint/enamel fill in the engraving.Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Anna VeltfortNotes
keeperPerson or Organization
Theodore Ernest VeltfortNotes
ownerPerson or Organization
Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin AmericaRelated Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaNotes
acquisitionPlace
Country
JapanContinent
AsiaNotes
productionRelated Events
Event
First Conference of Solidarity of the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin AmericaCreated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
March 31, 2022Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
June 18, 2026
