Cuba yesterday accused the top US diplomat in Havana of carrying mail to dissidents containing funds from an organisation run by the benefactor of an alleged terrorist. The authorities presented emails and other correspondence they said supported their claim against Michael Parmly, the chief of the US interests section in the Cuban capital. But while the evidence referred to "letters", it included no direct proof that there was money involved.

Cuba claimed that funds were sent to two political opposition leaders, Martha Beatriz Roque and Laura Pollan, from a Miami-based organisation called Fundacion Rescate Juridica, headed by Santiago Alvarez. Alvarez, the authorities said, was a benefactor of Luis Posada Carriles, accused by Cuba of masterminding bombings of aircraft and hotels.

"This reveals the connection between the counter-revolutionaries in Cuba and the terrorists," said Josefina Vidal Ferreira, the director of the Cuban foreign ministry's north American department.

Roque heads the Assembly for Civil Society while Pollan is a member of the Ladies in White group of political prisoners' wives. Neither was immediately available for comment yesterday.

Cuba has for years accused US officials of providing government funds and material support to the island's tiny opposition. American officials have acknowledged sending books, radios, tape recorders and other items, purchased through the US Agency for International Development, but have denied giving dissidents cash.

During a 2003 crackdown Cuba charged 75 opposition members with being "mercenaries" working with US officials to overthrow the communist system and sentenced them to long prison terms.