Havana, Dec 30 (IANS/EFE) Cuba has allowed US diplomats to meet an American who was arrested here for allegedly distributing mobile phones, laptops and other communication gadgets among dissidents on the communist-ruled island, an official said.
Washington has requested consular access to the jailed US citizen, whose name is being withheld by both governments, a source at the US Interests Section in Havana told EFE Tuesday.

Though the US and Cuba have not had diplomatic relations since 1961, the two countries established interests section in each other’s capitals in 1977.

On Dec 12, the US State Department issued a statement about the arrest of an employee of the Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) in Cuba.

Cuba’s first public statement on the arrest came Dec 20, when President Raul Castro referred to the detainee as a US government contractor.

The DAI employee was engaged in “the illegal supply of sophisticated communications equipment” to elements that Washington hopes would subvert the Cuban society, Castro said.

Havana routinely condemns opposition groups in the country as US “mercenaries” as some dissidents accept aid from Washington and Cuban expatriates in Miami.