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Cuba diplomat accused as spy expelled from US

WASHINGTON: A Cuban diplomat, who was accused of spying by the United States but refused to leave the country despite a formal expulsion order, was taken from his Maryland home by FBI agents on Saturday night and put on a flight to Montreal.

"The diplomat in question no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities conferred by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations. He has been expelled from the United States for not voluntarily departing by the appointed time," U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin said in a statement.

Jose Imperatori, who said he was innocent and has resigned his post as vice-consul of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, was expected on Sunday to fly on to Havana from Canada, an FBI spokeswoman said.

The United States charged Imperatori was a contact for Mariano Faget, a Cuban-born U.S. immigration officer arrested 10 days ago for allegedly spying for Havana.

The State Department ordered the expulsion after FBI agents arrested Faget, an Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) supervisor, for passing information on defectors to Cuba. The FBI said it had watched Faget meet a Washington-based Cuban diplomat at a Miami airport bar.

Imperatori had been given until 1:30 p.m. (1830 GMT) on Saturday to leave the United States but refused, saying he wanted to give up his diplomatic immunity and remain in the United States until he had proven his innocence.

But hours later, FBI agents arrived at his Maryland apartment, put him in a car, and along with his lawyer Kurt Schmoke and two federal agents, drove him to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

CUBA LINKS CASE TO ELIAN

Cuba's communist government had refused to recall Imperatori and challenged the U.S. government to prove its case in court. U.S. officials have said it would be unprecedented for a foreign state to ignore a Persona Non Grata order.

Havana, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Washington, has said the spying charges were trumped up by the FBI and Cuban exiles in Miami to hinder the return of Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban boy caught in an international custody dispute.

The 6-year-old boy was rescued off Florida in November after a boatwreck in which his mother drowned trying to reach the United States.

The INS decided the boy's father in Havana has custody and Elian should be sent back to Havana. But relatives in Miami, backed by exiles opposed to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, have fought to keep the boy.

The Cuban government maintains that the espionage case was timed to discredit the INS before the Elian Gonzalez case was scheduled to be heard in a federal court.

"That is no simple coincidence. In our opinion there is a very clear connection," said Fernando Remirez, chief of the Cuban mission in Washington.

"The people behind this conspiracy, who want to block Elian's return to Cuba, are doing everything they can," Remirez told a news conference.

In Cuba, around 50,000 demonstrators expressed solidarity with Imperatori as part of daily rallies held in Cuba since the Elian Gonzalez dispute began three months ago.

"We do not obey the command of the powerful, and we do not accept the lie," teacher Ramon Gonzalez told the rally in the western province of Pinar del Rio. "We will continue protesting as long as we need to demonstrate the truth and achieve our objectives."

In the front row of the demonstration was Raul Castro, Cuba's defence minister and brother of President Fidel Castro.-Reuters