By Bart Jones. .c The Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela. 18 (AP) - Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela charged Friday that a group in Miami is working behind the scenes to encourage Cuban doctors on a disaster relief mission to defect.
The ambassador, German Sanchez, said at a press conference that the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation has funneled money to Cuban exile groups in Venezuela who are urging Cuban doctors in the South American country to remain there.
``We are in the presence of an action directed with evil intentions by certain persons with a large amount of money that comes from Miami,'' Sanchez said. ``This money comes from the Cuban American National Foundation.''
Sanchez charged that the plan was part of an effort by the group to create tensions between Venezuela and Cuba, whose presidents, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro, are close allies.
Mariela Ferretti, a spokeswoman for the foundation, denied it had anything to do with recent defections by doctors and said they were simply cases of Cubans fleeing political repression on the island.
``Apparently Castro has an obsession with the Cuban American National Foundation. He points a finger at us every time something goes wrong for him,'' she said. ``There's no question this is an embarrassment for him.''
Three Cuban doctors have requested political asylum in Venezuela in the past two weeks. The request by the first two was denied by Venezuelan authorities, who said the doctors did not face political persecution in Cuba and wanted to emigrate for economic reasons.
However, Venezuela said it would allow them to stay in the country for one year for unspecified ``humanitarian reasons.''
On Friday, Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel announced that the same decision had been made for the third doctor, who requested asylum this week.
The doctor, Gliselia Alonso, said she wanted to leave Cuba because she had suffered discrimination there since she is not a fervent er of the Castro government.
She said that now that she had publicly requested political asylum, she would almost certainly face harassment or prison if she returned to Cuba.
``I'm risking my life,'' she told reporters.
Sanchez criticized the doctors, saying they were ``disloyal'' and lacked ethics since they had deserted their mission of helping victims of landslides that killed thousands of people in December.
The request for political asylum has presented a delicate political problem for Chavez, who often praises the 40-year-old Cuban revolution.
Sanchez said that the alleged efforts by the Cuban exile group in Miami to divide Cuba and Venezuela would fail.
He said about 450 Cuban medical personnel had been sent to Venezuela to assist in the relief efforts. Most are still in the country with the Cuban government's approval.
AP-NY-02-18-00 1922EST
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