Envoy accused of helping alleged Cuban spy
 
                  From staff and wire reports

                  WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Cuban diplomat ordered out of the United
                  States is refusing to leave and said on Saturday that he'll go on a hunger
                  strike to clear his name of allegations that he was a contact of a U.S.
                  immigration official charged with spying for Cuba.

                  "From this moment I declare myself on a hunger strike until I have been
                  absolutely cleared of the accusations brought against me," said Jose
                  Imperatori, vice-consul at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

                  He told reporters at a news conference on Saturday that he is innocent of all
                  charges.

                  "I have become the victim of a major slander," Imperatori said. "I have been
                  wrongly accused of doing intelligence work in the United States. ... The
                  accusation brought against me is absolutely false."

                  Imperatori was asked to leave the United States after the FBI said it
                  suspected he was the Washington contact for Mariano Faget, a supervisor in
                  the Miami office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service who was
                  arrested a week ago on charges of spying for Cuba.

                  "I feel it is my duty to state that the INS official is innocent of the accusation
                  of espionage made against him, and I can help to prove it," Imperatori said.

                  Imperatori spoke less that three hours before the 1:30 p.m. EST deadline set
                  by the State Department for him to leave the United States.

                  Waiting for the U.S.to act

                  Imperatori said he resigned his post as consular officer at 7 a.m. this
                  morning, thus voluntarily eliminating his immunity. He said he would remain in
                  his apartment awaiting any action by the United States.

                  "I shall not resist arrest, not even if I am handcuffed and jailed. My morale
                  and my truth will be my shield," he said.

                  Imperatori, 46, said his wife and 3-year-old child left Friday night for Cuba.

                  The U.S. State Department would not comment on Imperatori's decision to
                  defy the expulsion order or to begin a hunger strike.

                  "At 1:30 p.m. he loses his (diplomatic) immunity and the appropriate action
                  will be taken," said a State Department spokeswoman.

                  No food, just liquids

                  Appearing with Imperatori at the news conference was former Baltimore
                  Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a lawyer who was retained by the Cuban Interest
                  Section to represent him.

                  Schmoke said Imperatori, who spoke through a translator, intends to limit
                  himself to a liquids-only diet and does not intend to endanger his health.

                  Imperatori, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, said Cuban Interests Section
                  officials have been "categorically and precisely instructed not to do
                  intelligence work in the United States" since the mission was opened 22
                  years ago.

                  "Such instructions have been strictly observed and with absolutely no
                  exceptions," he said.

                  Cuban officials have said they are determined that Imperatori will remain in
                  the United States to prove that the allegations against him are false.

                  The Cuban government maintains that its diplomatic mission in Washington
                  has not engaged in intelligence activities since it opened in 1977.