| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
'My interest is the future'
The new head of the U.S.
Interests Section in Cuba discusses the
island, its people, and what's to come
By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Sun, Dec. 25, 2005.
Michael Parmly arrived in Havana in September
as the new chief of the U.S. Interests Section.
He succeeds James Cason, who had many public
confrontations with the Fidel Castro government.
A career diplomat, Parmly has served in
a number of countries emerging from conflicts,
such as Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He spoke to The Miami Herald last week.
Here are excerpts from that interview.
Q: What were your first impressions of
Cuba? Any surprises?
A: I go for long walks and go to places
where Cubans are going to be. I stop at
newsstands, paladares, walk out on a beach
and talk to fishermen, talk to young people,
talk to folks at baseball games. . . . I
have actually been surprised by the extent
of the creativity and spontaneity of the
Cuban people. If you talk to people, they
talk back to you. I talk not just to Cuban
artists, musicians or independents.
It's the Cuban mind that's lively. That's
going to come in handy when the (post-Castro)
transition comes. They can think for themselves.
Q: Do you meet many people who vehemently
defend Castro?
A: There is a certain number of people
that believes in the system. To give you
an example, I met a person who expressed
skepticism of . . . dissidents, because
they threaten the accomplishments of the
revolution. . . .
She said everything she is and has accomplished
is a product of the revolution. I didn't
say it like this, but I thought, "How
about giving yourself some credit, girl!
You're a single mom who put herself through
school . . . Your energy, your drive brought
you to where you are.''
I enjoy hearing those views. The back and
forth is interesting. I'm intrigued that
I have those conversations -- I don't have
many.
Q: Do you think you'll be the chief of
the U.S. Interests Section during the transition?
A: If you operate with that mindset, you
do a disservice to the people on the island
today. We need to play for today while being
concerned for tomorrow. That's what I think
about every morning when I wake up: What
can I do for people today? We stand ready
to help them.
Q: Do you think your past diplomatic postings
make you uniquely qualified for this job?
A: I don't know about uniquely qualified.
I have come from a number of post-conflict
societies engaged in long periods of difficultly.
If there is one thing I came away from in
Afghanistan it's to get as close to people
as you can, because they are going to be
the ones with the answers.
I don't come with prefabricated ideas of
what needs to be done. I remember in Kandahar
sitting on rugs in tents of tribal leaders.
I used to say: If there's a chair in the
room, it's not a legitimate conversation.
If the guy has teeth, it's not a legitimate
conversation.
Q: What is the thread that links all of
these recent economic changes, from pay
raises to electricity rate hikes?
A: Fear of change, trying to lock in a
legacy that has never existed -- only apparently
existed in somebody's mind. That's to me
what this is about: fear of one's own population.
Q: Are you seeing an increase in attacks
against dissidents? Why now?
A: I can't explain pathological behavior.
One seeks an explanation . . . . Are we
seeing this because people are aware of
their own mortality? I don't know, and I
don't choose those words lightly.
I suppose it's to get people to think they
are the only ones that have those thoughts
that oppose the regime. It's to get people
to think, "You must be weird. You're
all alone. No one thinks like that.''
Q: Fidel Castro mentions the prisoners
at Guantánamo every chance he gets.
Doesn't the detention of prisoners there
hurt U.S. credibility?
A: I don't accept the lies as version of
reality -- as opposed to legal procedures,
the International Committee of the Red Cross'
ability to monitor on a regular basis, ability
of foreign governments to visit there. If
anything, it's a statement for rule of law.
Q: I notice you never speak Fidel Castro's
name.
A: I never met the man. When I see the
senior leadership performing on TV, I scratch
my head, because it's surreal. The logic
is very hard to follow. The logic is from
another place. The logic is very harsh and
cruel. My interest is the future, and the
Cuban people.
I am not an archaeologist.
ABOUT MICHAEL E. PARMLY
o Age: 54, born in St. Augustine.
o Bachelor's in International Relations
and Latin American Studies from St. Joseph's
College in Philadelphia, master's from the
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at
Tufts in Massachusetts.
o Served as U.S. Peace Corps volunteer
in Bucaramanga, Colombia, working in youth
development.
o Married to Marie-Catherine, two children:
Berengere Marie, 26, and Christopher Wells,
17.
o Former professor of National Security
Studies at the National War College, specializing
in post-conflict situations.
o A foreign service officer since 1977,
his diplomatic postings have included Afghanistan,
Paris, Sarajevo, Romania, Morocco and Spain.
o Speaks French, Spanish and Romanian.
Castro calls Rice 'mad'
In response to Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice's meeting with
a U.S. government commission designed to
prepare for a democratic transition in Cuba
after Fidel Castro, the leader called Rice
'mad.'
From Miami Herald Wire Services.
Posted on Sat, Dec. 24, 2005.
HAVANA - In an unusually harsh outburst,
Cuban leader Fidel Castro Friday called
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
''mad'' and used a vulgar epithet to describe
her special commission on the island's transition.
It was the first time in memory the 79-year-old
Castro, who has been unusually aggressive
in his recent public pronouncements, used
the crude but common vulgarism in public,
two longtime monitors of the Cuban media
said.
Castro has become ''increasingly cantankerous
for the last four years,'' said Brian Latell,
a retired CIA analyst on Cuba and author
of After Fidel, a new book about Castro
and his brother, designated successor Raúl
Castro.
In recent years Castro has harshly insulted
presidents Vicente Fox of Mexico, Fernando
de la Rúa of Argentina and Jorge
Batlle of Uruguay. Last week, a top aide
to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Lula de Silva said Castro had called him
a pendejo -- literally a pubic hair but
also an epithet for a sniveling coward.
''The danger is that as he becomes more
isolated because of his declining health
and his age, he's becoming more cantankerous
and . . . the quality of his leadership
is deteriorating,'' Latell said.
CIA doctors recently concluded Castro suffers
from Parkinson's, The Miami Herald reported
last month.
Added one U.S. intelligence community member
who studies Cuba: "Usually he has more
elegant words at his command and doesn't
have to lower himself to swear words like
the one today.''
The communist leader's latest tirade against
the United States was in response to Rice's
meeting this week with a U.S. government
commission designed to prepare for a democratic
transition in Cuba after Castro.
''I am going to tell you what I think about
this famous commission,'' Castro said, then
using the barnyard epithet to describe the
group to the Cuban parliament.
''In this context, it does not matter if
it was the mad woman who talks of transition:
It is a circus; they are completely depraved;
they should be pitied,'' he added.
The attack followed Castro's comments on
Thursday, when he called Michael Parmly,
head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana,
a ''little gangster'' for criticizing the
regime in a speech this month.
Cuban officials initially said very little
about Parmly, who arrived in Havana in September.
But he apparently hit a nerve during a Dec.
10 gathering at his residence to mark Human
Rights Day.
Speaking to a group that included dissidents,
Parmly praised the opposition while accusing
Castro's government of repressing its citizens
and singling out as ''particularly disgusting''
the practice in which government supporters
surround dissidents' homes and hurl insults.
© 2005 MiamiHerald.com
and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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