( CNN ) -- Bolivia President Evo Morales declared a U.S. diplomat `` undesirable '' Monday amid allegations that the United States asked a visiting scholar and Peace Corps volunteers to keep tabs on Cubans and Venezuelans in Bolivia . Morales said a security assistant for the U.S. Embassy -- identified by the Bolivian Information Agency as Vincent Cooper -- violated the rights of Bolivian citizens and offended the country , the news agency reported Monday . U.S. officials admitted that someone at the embassy made an inappropriate suggestion , the information agency reported , but the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia , Philip S. Goldberg , denied Monday that the embassy asked anyone to spy . `` I respect the sovereignty and dignity of Bolivia , and I am ready to talk with Bolivian government representatives to clarify everything and present all the facts , '' the Bolivian Information Agency quoted the ambassador as saying . The scholar , John Alexander van Schaick , told ABC News that the request stunned him . `` My immediate thought was 'Oh my God . Somebody from the U.S. Embassy just asked me to basically spy , '' he said . `` I was in shock that something like that would happen to me -- just a humble Fulbright scholar who 's here to do research . '' In Washington , Sean McCormack , a spokesman for the U.S. State Department , told reporters Monday that U.S. embassies are under instructions not to ask Fulbright scholars or Peace Corps volunteers to act `` in any way , shape or form '' on behalf of the U.S. government as intelligence agents . The controversy erupted after van Schaick said Cooper asked him in a November meeting at the U.S. Embassy in La Paz to report the names and addresses of Cuban and Venezuelans working in Bolivia , according to the Bolivian Information Agency . `` I smiled and just sat there because I did not want to show that it completely dismayed me to be asked such a thing , '' van Schaick said , according to the news agency . The U.S. Embassy in Bolivia said in a statement Monday that Peace Corps volunteers had been mistakenly given a security briefing in July meant for embassy staff asking them to report `` suspicious activities , '' The Associated Press reported , though Goldman said `` nobody at the embassy has ever asked American citizens to participate in intelligence activities here . '' It was unclear Monday whether the Bolivian government would seek the expulsion of any U.S. Embassy employees in light of the president 's declaration of Cooper as an `` undesirable '' person . E-mail to a friend .
U.S. diplomat accused of violating rights of Bolivian citizens . U.S. officials admit inappropriate suggestion was made , deny spying allegations . Score: 6