Cuban Envoy Stays in Canada Beyond Deadline

TORONTO —  A Cuban diplomat who was expelled from the United States on allegations of spying and deported to Canada stayed inside the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa on Monday as the time limit on his transit visa ran out.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy said Jose Imperatori would become an illegal alien if he remained in Canada beyond the two-day limit allowed by the visa granted him on Saturday.

It was not clear how Imperatori, the former vice consul at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, would have left Canada if he wanted to. There were no commercial flights scheduled to leave for Havana until this morning.