HAVANA, Dec 15: Washington’s new top diplomat in Havana sees mounting frustration and anger in Cuba and is preparing for rapid change on the communist-run island, but he cannot predict when — or how — that will happen.

US Interests Section chief Michael Parmly believes Cubans have had their fill of President Fidel Castro’s rule and will not wait for his demise to see change.

From his experience as a US diplomat in Romania, where communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu was ousted in street protests, Mr Parmly envisions revolt possibly spreading like wildfire in the streets and a dictator’s authority crumbling when he is shouted at in the main square.

“You cannot predict these things, but you do try to prepare for them when you are pretty sure they are coming and I am pretty sure it is coming,” Mr Parmly said in an interview on Wednesday.

“I wouldn’t try to mark a date on the calendar, but I see an awful lot of signs of frustration, even anger. When the rubber band snaps is up to the Cuban people,” he said.

He pointed to Serbia as another example of people taking to the streets to change a regime against predictions. “Call me a foolish optimist. I think I have enough concrete data to be convinced that is the way it is going to play out,” he said.

Mr Parmly arrived three months ago as head of the US mission, the person Cuban officials love to hate.—Reuters