Cuban Goes to Spain After Stalled Bid for U.S. Asylum

Juan Manuel Rodriguez Camejo, a self-described former Cuban intelligence agent who sought to defect to the United States last year but was immediately placed into U.S. custody, has opted to go into exile in Spain, officials say.

Under an accord worked out with federal authorities, Rodriguez, 41, agreed to leave the United States, and boarded a flight Jan. 17 from Los Angeles to Zurich, Switzerland, with connections for Madrid, said Rudy Murillo, spokesman in San Diego for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Rodriguez’s lawyer, Judith L. Wood of Los Angeles, said Rodriguez had become fed up with his continuing battle with U.S. immigration officials and wanted to be freed.

Federal officials had initially denied Rodriguez’s petition for political asylum in the United States, contending that he was still spying on behalf of the Cuban government. U.S. lawyers labeled him a security risk--a charge denied by Rodriguez--and insisted that he remain in jail while he fought deportation, a process that can take a year or more.

Rodriguez acknowledged having worked for more than 20 years as a Cuban counterintelligence agent. He also said he had worked as a double agent, taking payments from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency but duping his U.S. spymasters. (U.S. authorities declined to comment on work Rodriguez said he performed for the CIA.)

However, Rodriguez said he had become deeply disenchanted with the Cuban government, prompting threats against him and his family from Cuban security agents. He said he was writing a book exposing the depth of opposition to the regime of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba.

Rodriguez, 41, who had lived and traveled widely in Latin America, Europe and Africa, arrived in U.S. territory last October, crossing into San Diego illegally from Tijuana, with his wife and 6-year-old daughter. He said he sought to live with in-laws in the Los Angeles area.

After fighting the government’s case from behind bars, Rodriguez finally decided to go to Spain, which granted him a visa, authorities said.