DATE=3/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=MIAMI / CUBA SPY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259717
BYLINE=MICHAEL BOWMAN
DATELINE=MIAMI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  For the first time since his arrest on 
espionage charges two weeks ago, a high-ranking U-S 
Immigration official has spoken publicly about charges 
that he passed sensitive information to the Cuban 
government.  The case led to the recent expulsion of a 
Cuban diplomat who was stationed in Washington.  As V-
O-A's Michael Bowman reports from Miami, the U-S 
Immigration and Naturalization Service officer admits 
meeting with a Cuban representative in the United 
States, but denies he ever spied for anyone.

TEXT:  I-N-S supervisor Mariano Faget (pron: fah-HET) 
spoke with a Miami television station (A-B-C affiliate 
W-P-L-G) from the detention center where he has been 
held since February 17th.  The Cuban-born suspect, who 
worked for the I-N-S for more than 30 years after 
coming to the United States as a young man, says he 
never passed sensitive information to any foreign 
agents.

            /// FAGET ACT ///

      I am a moral person.  I love this country and I 
      would never do anything to hurt it.  And what 
      would I have to gain by giving information?  
      There's nothing to gain there.  I've never 
      considered doing anything like that.

            /// END ACT ///

But the F-B-I says it has clear evidence Mariano Faget 
is lying.  Last month, after months of surveillance, 
the F-B-I launched a sting operation in which Mr. 
Faget was asked to prepare political asylum papers for 
a high-raking Cuban official who was -- supposedly -- 
about to defect.  The F-B-I says Mr. Faget promptly 
called a New York businessman known to have ties with 
Cuba, and revealed the name of the supposed defector.  
F-B-I special agent Paul Mallett says that was just 
one of several incidents that led to Mariano Faget's 
arrest.

            /// MALLETT ACT ///

      Faget is known to have placed telephone calls to 
      an extension of the Cuban Interests Section -- 
      which is a representative office of the Cuban 
      Government -- in Washington.  Faget has met with 
      representatives of the Cuban Interests Section.  
      Faget has also had numerous contacts with a 
      Cuban-born resident alien who is the chief 
      executive officer of a business located in New 
      York city, who, in turn, is known to have had 
      several meetings with agents and representatives 
      of the Cuban Government during the past year.

            /// END ACT ///

Mr. Faget acknowledges he contacted the New York 
businessman, but insists his intention was not to 
betray the supposed Cuban defector.  He also admits 
that in late 1998, he met with Cuban diplomat Jose 
Imperatori, whom the United States has also accused of 
spying and expelled from the country this past 
Saturday.  But Mr. Faget says he was never asked, nor 
did he volunteer, any U-S secrets.

            /// FAGET ACT ///

      That meeting was the first time I met him.  We 
      discussed, in general, the future of Cuba.  My 
      job never entered into (had any part of) any 
      conversations with him.

            /// END ACT ///

Mariano Faget has been denied bail while awaiting 
trial and says he is eager to have his day in court.  
Meanwhile, Canada is trying to expel Mr. Faget's one-
time Cuban contact, Jose Imperatori, who has spent 
several days in Cuba's Embassy in Ottawa since his 
deportation from the United States.  Cuba has accused 
the United States of artificially creating the spy 
scandal in an attempt to delay the return to the 
island of six-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor, Elian 
Gonzalez.

But Mr. Faget says that in his I-N-S duties, he never 
handled any portion of the Elian Gonzalez matter.  On 
that question, federal authorities agree with their 
suspect. (SIGNED)

NEB/MCB/JP




01-Mar-2000 11:21 AM EDT (01-Mar-2000 1621 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.