U.S. Official: Castro Supporters Really Nazi-like Goons

Monday, Dec. 12, 2005 12:52 a.m. EST

The stomping jackboots of Gestapo-like goon squads are being heard in Cuba, a top U.S. diplomat stationed there says.

Michael Parmly, the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, told a meeting of Cuban dissidents and foreign diplomats that the angry mobs of government supporters - the "actos de repudios" [acts of repudiation] - sent to demonstrate outside dissidents' homes was a "particularly disgusting" practice that recalled Nazi brownshirts or the Ku Klux Klan.

"The regime would like us to think that these so-called actos de repudios ... are spontaneous," he said. "We all know that most neighbours refused to participate in such vile acts of abuse."


"The Cuban regime does not represent the people." Parmly said during his speech marking International Human Rights day, reports Reuters. "It maintains itself by isolating Cubans from the rest of the world, keeping Cubans artificially poor and dependent on a state that demands unquestionable compliance, and instilling fear among those who question the regime's lies." Amnesty International has said that the Castro regime uses the actos de repudios goons to harass its enemies. Attacks include physical assaults and damage to dissidents' property.


Human rights groups say the Castro government is holding more than 300 people in prison for political reasons.

"The situation is deteriorating. We are seeing more repression every day by a government that is on its last legs," Vladimiro Roca, the son of one of the founding fathers of Cuban communism, told Reuters. Added Dr. Hilda Molina, a top neurosurgeon who quit the ruling Communist Party a decade ago because she disagreed with preferential treatment given to foreigners by Cuba's medical system to generate hard currency: "In my opinion, not a single human right is respected in Cuba. We have a government that operates entirely by whim." Appointed to the Cuban post last July, Parmly, a 26-year State Department veteran diplomat, served the bulk of his career in Europe.

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