Michael E. Parmly (born 1951) is the former Chief of Mission of the

United States Interests Section in Havana The United States Interests Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana, Cuba or USINT Havana (the State Department telegraphic address) represented United States interests in Cuba from September 1, 1977, to July 20, 2015. It was staffed by ...

, or USINT, a post he held from September 10, 2005 to July 2008. He succeeded

James Cason James Caldwell Cason (born November 14, 1944) is a retired United States Foreign Service officer, most recently serving as Ambassador to Paraguay, a post he held from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that post, he was the Principal Officer of the US Intere ...

at this post and is predecessor to Jonathan D. Farrar.

Personal life

Parmly attended St. Joseph's College, where he completed an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Latin American Studies. He then earned his Masters of Arts of Law and Diplomacy from the

Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is the graduate school of international affairs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The School is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations and is well-ranked in it ...

. He is married to Marie-Catherine née Schutte and has two children.

Career

Parmly worked in youth development as a

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

volunteer in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 68 ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. He is now a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Parmly is a veteran of over 25 years at the State Department. Some of his previous job titles include Senior Advisor to Ambassador

Zalmay Khalilzad Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad ( ps, ځلمی خلیل زاد, prs, زلمی خلیل‌زاد; born March 22, 1951) is an Afghan-American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to serve as U.S. Specia ...

for the Afghan Presidential elections, Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires, a.i. at the Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, State Department representative in

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, Professor of National Security Studies at the

National War College The National War College (NWC) of the United States is a school in the National Defense University. It is housed in Roosevelt Hall on Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., the third-oldest Army post still active. History The National War Colle ...

, Office Director for Northern Europe in the Bureau of European Affairs, and Political Counselor at the US Mission to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. The diplomatic postings of Parmly include

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

''Sicko'' controversy

According to

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

cables published in December 2010, Parmly had classified as "Confidential" a cable dated 31 January 2008 which read, in part, "XXXXXXXXXXXX stated that Cuban authorities have banned

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism. Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...

's documentary, ''Sicko'', as being subversive. Although the film's intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, he said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them." This was an attempt to discredit Moore's documentary, which cast the U.S. healthcare system in a bad light. Moore responded in his blog that this had been a fabrication and that "Cuba was shown the film on national television on April 25, 2008."

Argued for return of Guantanamo to Cuba

In 2013, Parmly, now living in Switzerland, wrote a paper arguing that the US base in Guantanamo should be returned to Cuba as reported in th
Miami Herald
His full article appeared in th
Fletcher Forum

References

External links

U.S. Dept of State biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parmly, Michael E. 1951 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) United States Department of State officials Ambassadors of the United States to Cuba