CUBA: Government rejects US charges in visa spat

HAVANA (AP) - A top Foreign Ministry official on Wednesday rejected U.S. charges that the island's government is to blame for Washington's inability to meet its annual 20,000-visa quota for Cubans seeking to leave the island.

Failure to meet the quota will likely encourage more illegal immigration to the United States, Josefina Vidal, director of the Foreign Ministry's North American Department, told The Associated Press.

"The Foreign Ministry categorically rejects the affirmation by the U.S. Interests Section that we are obstructing the work of that office," Vidal said in an interview.

She dismissed complaints made Tuesday by the Interests Section - the U.S. mission here - that Cuba has failed to authorize essential personnel and materials. Washington's failure to meet its annual quota of 20,000 visas by Sept. 30 would be a "very grave violation" of migration accords between the two countries, she said.

The two countries signed accords in 1994 to halt a mass exodus of U.S.-bound Cubans by sea, agreeing to work toward safe and orderly migration. The United States said it would process an annual minimum of 20,000 emigration visas for Cubans in an effort to prevent dangerous sea journeys.

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