The U.N. refugee agency said the doctors – identified as Noris Pena, 25, and Leonel Cordova, 31 – failed to show up for an interview on their status Friday and were believed held by police in the Zimbabwe capital.
But police said they don't have them. "We never took them," said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.
Bvudzijena said he did not know the whereabouts of the pair and they had not been reported missing to police.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that the doctors had been abducted from a Harare house by Cuban diplomats aided by Zimbabwean security agents.
Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Sarachino was unavailable Tuesday, his office said. His staff refused to accept calls relating to the doctors.
Sarachino confirmed last week that the two were among a group of 152 Cuban doctors and medical workers sent to assist Zimbabwe's ailing health service.
The doctors told the independent Daily News they chose the assignment in Zimbabwe with the intention of seeking asylum at the Canadian diplomatic mission here.
When they showed up at the mission two weeks ago, Canadian diplomats referred them to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees to evaluate their status as asylum seekers, the newspaper said.
The doctors had been in Zimbabwe a little over a month.
Since independence from British colonial rule in 1980, Zimbabwe has maintained close cultural and ideological ties with Cuba.
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