Published Saturday, August 17, 1996, in the Miami Herald.
                             IN THE AMERICAS


             From Herald Wire Services

             CUBA

             Press group urges release of reporters

             The Inter American Press Association on Friday urged President
             Fidel Castro to release three jailed independent reporters and
             end harassment of all Cuban journalists ``who seek to inform
             free of state guidance.''

             In a statement issued in Miami, the press association
             protested the detention of Magali Pino, Bernardo Fuentes and
             Jorge Rive, independent journalists working for the Patria
             news agency. It said they have been held incommunicado at the
             state security jail in Camaguey since Monday.

             The statement also denounced attacks on -- and the threatened
             jailing of -- Alberto Cruz Lima, Patria bureau chief in Ciego
             de Avila, and threats made to Hector and Olga Valdivia, father
             and sister of Patria editor Roxana Valdivia, who lives in
             Miami.

             * HAVANA -- Cuba will send 110 physicians to South Africa on
             Monday, bringing to 206 the number of Cuban doctors serving
             three-year stints in the country.