BY MARIKA LYNCH

 Accused spy Mariano Faget met with a top Cuban diplomat to talk about
 business prospects in a post-embargo Cuba, but the two never talked about
 immigration matters, Faget told Michael Putney, political reporter for WPLG
 Channel 10 in an interview broadcast Tuesday night.

 And the jailed INS section chief also said he cut short the meeting with Jose
 Imperatori because he didn't like the diplomat's demeanor.

 ``I didn't find [Imperatori] very friendly, Faget, dressed in an orange jail uniform,
 said from an eighth-floor classroom at the Miami Federal Detention Center. ``We
 only met for half an hour, and it had nothing to do with my job, nor did we discuss
 anything that related to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.''

 ``It's not like we met every day or anything like that.

 Faget, accused of spying for Cuba, was arrested in an FBI sting after he
 disclosed what he was told were government secrets to New York businessman
 Pedro Font. During the investigation FBI agents also taped Faget's meeting with
 Imperatori at the Airport Hilton Hotel.

 Last week, Washington expelled Imperatori, though Havana maintains that during
 his tenure at the Cuban Interests Section he was never involved in espionage.
 Imperatori went to Canada, where he was holed up in the Cuban Embassy on
 Tuesday despite having been ordered to leave the country.

 Faget's comments about his meetings with the diplomat echo Havana's. A Feb.
 22 article in the Communist Party daily Granma said Faget ``never proposed any
 deals or offered sensitive information to the Cuban government.

 In his first interview since the arrest, Faget vehemently denied aiding the Castro
 government, and spoke with Putney for about 45 minutes -- the first 15 off-camera
 while they waited for Faget's attorney Ed O'Donnell. There were no ground rules,
 and O'Donnell neither interrupted the interview nor advised his client against
 answering a question, Putney said.

 Also in the interview:

 Faget denied he had anything to do with the case of Elian Gonzalez, the
 6-year-old Cuban boy plucked from an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day. INS has
 denied political asylum applications filed by Elian's Miami relatives on behalf of
 the boy. Immigration officials also have said Faget was not involved in the
 decision.

 Though he had access to sensitive files, Faget said he had not checked out any
 in years.

 ``I have secret clearance in my job, but I very seldom, if ever, see secret files,
 Faget told Putney. ``I don't know any information about INS that anyone would be
 interested in.

 Helping out a friend was his motive for relaying ``sensitive information to Font. The
 two had formed a corporation called America-Cuba, which they say would be
 used to do business on the island when the embargo was lifted. Font was about
 to meet with Cuban diplomats when Faget got the information.

 ``I felt at that time that Mr. Font needed to know, he said.

 Faget choked back tears as he talked about the case's effect on his family. He
 and wife Pitty Maria had spent most of their savings on their children's education,
 and the couple has little money invested in their newly purchased Kendall home.
 He planned to take another full-time job after retiring from the INS, perhaps to be a
 stockbroker, said Faget, who added he didn't intend to work full time with
 America-Cuba until after the embargo is lifted.

 It would be easier to be an accused drug dealer than a traitor to his country, he
 told Putney.

 ``I'm not a spy. I could not do that to the country that I love, the United States,
 Faget said. ``I lived the American dream, and I would never do anything to hurt the
 American dream.

 Herald writer Mireidy Fernandez contributed to this report.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald