OTTAWA (AP) -- A Cuban diplomat who went into hiding at the Cuban
                   Embassy in Canada after being expelled from the United States left the
                   compound Thursday escorted by Canadian police.

                   Canadian media reported that Jose Imperatori, 46, boarded a chartered jet
                   at Ottawa's airport and left for Havana.

                   Imperatori left the embassy just before 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) in a gray car
                   with red diplomatic plates. Four Royal Canadian Mounted Police vehicles
                   provided an escort.

                   Foreign Affairs ministry spokesman Michael O'Shaughnessy confirmed
                   Imperatori left the embassy but refused to provide any further details.
                   Imperatori and Cuban embassy officials also did not comment as they drove
                   past waiting reporters and photographers.

                   Canadian officials have said Imperatori was in the country illegally because
                   the transit visa he received upon arrival Saturday had expired. They were
                   unable to arrest him because he was in the embassy, but they said Imperatori
                   would be permitted to fly out of the country.

                   Imperatori stayed in the embassy more than four days, refusing to eat solid
                   food to protest his expulsion, according to embassy officials.

                   He was declared persona non grata by Washington last week for allegedly
                   helping a U.S. Immigration Service worker accused of spying for Cuba.
                   U.S. officials flew Imperatori to Canada on Saturday, where he took refuge
                   in the Cuban Embassy instead of proceeding to Havana.

                   Ted Killory, a Washington lawyer representing Imperatori, said his client
                   wanted to go back to the United States immediately instead of proceeding to
                   Havana. Killory said Imperatori has offered to testify at the trial of Mariano
                   Faget, the alleged spy he is accused of helping.

                   A U.S. State Department official said this week that Imperatori could be
                   invited back to testify at the Faget trial, but U.S. officials insisted Imperatori
                   must first go to Cuba.

                   Imperatori resigned as vice-consul of Cuba's Interests Section in
                   Washington after being accused last week of providing information to Faget,
                   who was arrested in Miami on allegations of spying for Havana.

                   In Florida, Faget acknowledged meeting with Imperatori, but said the two
                   spoke only about business opportunities.

                   "We only met for half an hour, and it had nothing to do with my job, nor did
                   we discuss anything that related to the Immigration and Naturalization
                   Service," Faget told WPLG-TV in an interview aired Tuesday night.