US diplomat decries sinister wave of repression in Cuba

Posted on Wed, Mar. 08, 2006

U.S. diplomat decries `sinister wave of repression' in Cuba
BY MIKE CLARY
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

HAVANA - The top American diplomat in Cuba lashed out Wednesday at what
he called "a sinister wave of repression" on the island by the Castro
government during a press conference timed to coincide with the release
of the U.S. State Department's annual Human Rights Report.

Michael E. Parmly, chief of the U.S. Interests Section, said the Cuban
government continued to engage in "systematic violations of fundamental
rights," and continued to sponsor mob actions designed to squelch dissent.

"Acts of repudiation are occurring all over the country," said Parmly.
"When a government-mobilized mob gathers at the home of a free-thinking
Cuban and offers hateful chants, threats or violence, the victim suffers
enormously, as do family members."

There was no immediate response from the Cuban government, which in the
past has ignored such reports.

Meeting reporters at his official residence in the Havana suburb of
Siboney, Parmly also made reference to the comments of a U.N. Human
Rights Commission's expert, Christine Chanet, a French jurist, who said
this week that "extreme tension" between Cuba and the United States had
led to an increase in the number of dissidents sentenced to prison.
Parmly ducked comment, however, on Chanet's opinion that tighter U.S.
sanctions on Cuba had helped create the climate for a Cuban crackdown,
saying only that he wished Chanet would be given the opportunity to come
to the communist island.

Since becoming the commission's Cuba expert in 2003, Chanet has not been
allowed to enter Cuba.

The State Department report cites Cuba's "poor" record on human rights
and said that "at least 333 Cuban political prisoners and detainees"
were imprisoned at the end of last year. The report also criticized Cuba
for "pervasive monitoring of private communications," limiting peaceful
assembly and "restrictions on freedom of movement."

Parmly, a career diplomat who took up his post in September, also
side-stepped reporters' attempts to elicit comment on alleged abuses of
detainees at the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo, and the U.S.
decision this month to deny entry permits to 55 Cuban academics invited
to the Latin America Studies Association conference in Puerto Rico.

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