"At 8:45 p.m. EST today, the Cuban diplomat we declared persona non grata on February 19 was escorted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to Washington National Airport, from where he departed the United States," Rubin said late Saturday.
"The diplomat in question no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities conferred by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He has been expelled from the United States for not voluntarily departing by the appointed time. We do not have any further comments on the case."
Before Rubin's statement, an administration official told CNN Imperatori would fly to Montreal and eventually to Havana.
FBI agents met Imperatori, vice-consul of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, at his Maryland apartment Saturday night.
Meanwhile, a Cuban government source told CNN in Havana, "This is a problem of the North Americans. We are not going to cooperate with the diplomat being expelled. This is an injustice."
Imperatori has said he is innocent of allegations that he was a contact of a U.S. immigration official charged with spying for Cuba.
Imperatori -- and Cuban government officials -- say his expulsion and the espionage charges have been brought on by the international custody dispute over 6-year-old shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez. They say the spying charges and the expulsion are a way to block the return of Elian to his father in Cuba.
But U.S. officials say there is no connection with Elian's case.
"The diplomat in question no longer enjoys diplomatic privileges and immunities conferred by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," said the administration official. "He is being expelled from the U.S. for not voluntarily departing by the appointed time."
Imperatori ignored a Saturday afternoon deadline to abide by the expulsion order and be out of the country.
Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, a lawyer retained by the Cuban Interests Section to represent Imperatori, said the diplomat would cooperate with U.S. authorities.
"From this moment I declare myself on a hunger strike until I have been absolutely cleared of the accusations brought against me," Imperatori said Saturday at a news conference.
"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 than 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
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. [End]
Top INS official Mariano Faget just convicted of espionage- Cuban diplomat, Jose Imperatori expelled member of Cuban Interest Section and a plea from Spence Eig , lawyer for Elian Gonzalez to Janet Reno in February 2000. [Excerpt from linked source] The Cuban diplomat the U.S. wants expelled in an alleged spying case had a role in the ill-fated first visit of Elian Gonzalez's grandmothers to Miami. And the INS agent who was part of the sting that led to top INS official Mariano Faget being charged with passing on secret information also was present for the grandmothers' second Miami trip, when they did meet with Elian.
That both had roles in the grandmothers saga may be coincidental. The involvement, however, of the Cuban diplomat, Jose Imperatori, in both the grandmothers' visit and the Faget case has prompted a lawyer for Elian's Miami relatives to ask the INS to completely review the case. In a letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, attorney Spencer Eig on Tuesday said the ``growing evidence linking Cuban espionage and INS consideration of the Elian Gonzalez case compels'' Elian's Miami relatives to request the review.
The reason: Imperatori's presence ``amidst a swarm of INS agents'' Jan. 24 at Kendall-Tamiami Airport as the grandmothers were negotiating a meeting with Elian that never took place ``raised questions.'' ………… But the links between the grandmothers and the arrest of Mariano Faget continued. Jim Goldman, chief of investigations for INS and a participant in the Feb. 11 sting operation that resulted in Faget's arrest, was in charge of security for the grandmothers on their return to Miami. Goldman traveled with them by helicopter from the Opa-locka airport to Mt. Sinai Hospital and then rode with them in the car that took them on to O'Laughlin's Miami Beach home.
At the house, Edgar complained about Imperatori's taking control of the grandmothers' visit two days earlier, according to an affidavit O'Laughlin has given in a federal lawsuit over Elian's INS status. Edgar (National Council of Churches) says he doesn't recall complaining about Imperatori's actions, though others present at O'Laughlin's house say he did. [End Excerpt]