US rejects Cuban allegation that detained American contractor is a spy

US denies detained American in Cuba is a spy

WASHINGTON — The State Department on Thursday denied a senior Cuban official’s claim that a U.S. government contractor detained on the communist island is a spy.

“Those comments are false,” spokesman P.J. Crowley said, referring to remarks made by Cuban parliament leader Ricardo Alarcon on Wednesday. Alarcon said the contractor, who has not been identified by either government, had been hired to work for “American intelligence services.”

“Cuba has a history of mischaracterizing what Americans and NGOs in Cuba are doing,” Crowley told reporters, referring to civic groups. “This person is not associated with our intelligence services.”

The man was detained on Dec. 4 as he attempted to board a plane leaving Cuba, but Cuban officials did not grant him access to consular officials from the U.S. Interests Section — which Washington maintains in Cuba instead of an embassy — until Dec. 28. He was arrested on suspicion of handing out communications equipment to opposition groups.

Alarcon said the man is under investigation but has not yet been charged. His comments were the first by a Cuban official accusing the man of spying.

The State Department has said that the man was working as a subcontractor for the Maryland-based economic development organization Development Alternatives Inc., and the company’s president has said he was part of a USAID program intended to “strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba.”

Crowley said Wednesday that the contractor was in Cuba “to encourage and help facilitate Cuban citizens being able to do what citizens in most other parts of the world get to do: connect with the Internet, be able to communicate, be able to offer and express their views on a variety of subjects.”

And, he said those efforts would continue.

Relations between the United States and Cuba — once thought to be on the mend — have taken a nosedive in recent weeks. On Tuesday, Cuba called in the top U.S. diplomat on the island to formally protest the country’s inclusion on a list of countries whose citizens will be subjected to increased scrutiny when flying to the United States.