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 ("USINT Havana" in the State Department telegraphic address) represented United States interests in Cuba from September 1, 1977 to July 20, 2015. It was staffed b ...

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

James Cason :: ''For the American football player, see Jim 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 ...

at this post and is predecessor to

Jonathan D. Farrar Jonathan Don Farrar (born 1956) was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Panama from 2012 to 2015. He was previously the Chief of Mission of the United States Interests Section in Havana, Cuba, from July 2008 to September 2011. Backgr ...

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. Fletcher is one of America's oldest graduate schools of international relations. As of 2017, the student bo ...

. 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 of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

volunteer in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander Department, Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and is the ninth most populous city i ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. 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 (born March 22, 1951) is an American diplomat and foreign policy expert. Khalilzad was the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation from September 2018 to October 2021. Khailzad was appointed by Preside ...

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 is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, Professor of National Security Studies at the

National War College In the United States, the National War College (NWC) is a school within 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 ...

, 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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. The diplomatic postings of Parmly include

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

''Sicko'' controversy

According to

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

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 is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

'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