DATE=2/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-S / CUBA DIPLOMAT (S)
NUMBER=2-259603
BYLINE=KYLE KING
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:

            /// EDS: Should be updated after U-S 
authorities act or do not act on deadline ///

INTRO:  A U-S based Cuban diplomat at the center of 
spying allegations has refused to leave the United 
States and says he has gone on a hunger strike to 
prove his innocence.  From Washington, V-O-A's Kyle 
King reports.

TEXT:  Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori says he has been 
wrongly accused of doing intelligence work in the 
United States.

Speaking to reporters before a mid-afternoon deadline 
for him to leave the country (1:30 PM EST), the 
diplomat said he had resigned his post as a consular 
affairs officer, and voluntarily given up his 
diplomatic immunity.

The Clinton administration has accused the diplomat of 
involvement with a senior U-S customs official who was 
arrested earlier this month on charges of spying for 
Cuba.

U-S officials say it is unprecedented for a diplomat 
to refuse an expulsion order.  They say the Cuban 
diplomat will be subject to arrest if he does not 
leave, something he says he will not do. (signed)

NEB/KBK/JP




26-Feb-2000 12:33 PM EDT (26-Feb-2000 1733 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.