BY LIZA GROSS AND FRANCES ROBLES

Cuba has rejected a second U.S. government offer to send a humanitarian assessment team to the island to inspect damages in the wake of Hurricane Ike, saying such conditions are unnecessary and don't get to the heart of Cuba's needs: the ability to buy critical supplies, the Cuban foreign ministry announced Thursday.

The U.S. government had already offered $100,000 and an inspection team after Hurricane Gustav hit western Cuba Aug. 30. Cuba turned the offer down and insisted the U.S. instead lift the embargo that prevents Cuba from getting private credits from U.S. companies.

The Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement Thursday saying the U.S. State Department on Wednesday made the same offer for Ike -- and the Cuban government rejected it again.

''The United States government behaves cynically. It tries to suggest that it is desperate to cooperate with Cuba and that we refuse,'' the foreign ministry statement said. ``They lie unscrupulously.''

''If they want to cooperate with the Cuban people, then we request allowing the sale to Cuba of indispensable materials, such as tarps for roofs and other items to repair homes and to reestablish the electrical network,'' the government said. "Cuba is not asking for give-aways. Simply let us make purchases. The rest is pure rhetoric, pretext and justifications nobody believes.''

The diplomatic spat has heated up since Cuba was slammed by two hurricanes in 10 days. The U.S. government has been under increased pressure to lift restrictions that prohibit Cuban Americans from sending unlimited amounts of cash or care packages to their relatives.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heide Bronke said Washington is working with licensed aid organizations in Cuba to help bring humanitarian assistance to Cuba and that the assessment team is standard in natural disasters.

''Although the Cuban government has declined the offer of a humanitarian assessment team, we remain willing to send one,'' Bronke said. "The purpose of this team is to evaluate the extent of damage incurred, which is necessary to determine how much supplementary assistance will be needed. Assessment visits are a standard tool to help us direct our assistance where it is most needed, not a precondition for all U.S. assistance.''

Such teams are normally sent by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

''We are trying to be efficient and effective with U.S. taxpayer dollars,'' said USAID spokesman David Snider.

The Cuban government said many other countries have sent planes of aid without requiring assessments, and ample information has been released about the extent of the damages. '

''Cuba will overcome. Not hurricanes, blockades or aggressions can stop it,'' the foreign ministry statement said.

The political spat comes as reports on the extent of damages in Cuba begins to emerge. Miami-based business consultant Teo Babun, of Babun Group Consulting, said information coming from the island shows more widespread devastation than previously reported by the Cuban government media.

According to his organization's report, based on accounts from the island, the following damage occurred in central and eastern Cuba:

• 329,000 houses damaged.

• two million people without power or water.

• 300 municipal water wells in rural areas damaged, affecting 50,000 families.

• 130 bridges and culverts damaged.

• 112 dams overflowing, creating flooding conditions.

• 8,600 acres of crops lost.

• Sugar mills of Chaparra and Delicia severely damaged.

And in western Cuba, where both Ike and Gustav struck:

• 208,000 houses with partial or total damage.

• 1.2 million people without power or drinking water.

• 300 municipal water wells in rural areas damaged, affecting 50,000 families.

• 200 bridges and culverts damaged.

• 40 dams overflowing, creating flooding conditions.

• Approximately 15,000 families have lost everything.

• Hospital Heroes de Baire severely damaged, without a chance of functioning anytime soon.

Babun's report also said fuel prices have doubled and most people do not have refrigeration due to the lack of power. Transportation is limited, and many bridges are so damaged that roads are cut off.

Nationwide, some 500 miles of telephone and power poles are down and up to 150,000 people will remain in shelters unable to go home.

The town of Herradura, in the province of Pinar Del Río, was completely destroyed; about 600 houses were flattened.

''I would say the situation in Cuba is similar to what we saw during Andrew in South Florida. It's very, very bad,'' Babun said. "What saved [western Cuba] is that that area is the least populated.''

The damage estimate is from $3 billion to $4 billion, Babun said. The Cuban government is unlikely to want to release such a dire assessment, he added.

''I think the Cuban government first of all hasn't done a full assessment and is trying to double check with their assessment teams,'' he said. ``Cuba is a military regime, so they are very concerned about providing information they consider secret or detrimental to the state. That is information they are not accustomed to giving out.''