Posted at 7:41 a.m. EDT Saturday, August 24, 1996

             Exile Group to Resume Air Patrols as Cubans Keep Fleeing

             MIAMI -- (AP) -- An exile group whose planes were shot down by
             Cuba in February plans to resume air patrols of the Florida
             Straits to search for Cuban rafters.

             Brothers to the Rescue will begin weekly search and rescue
             flights on Saturday, six months after Cuban military planes
             shot down two of the group's unarmed civilian aircraft,
             killing four people.

             The exile group suspended flights after the incident, which
             touched off an international furor and prompted stiffer U.S.
             economic sanctions against Cuba.

             ``Evidently Cubans are still taking to the sea and I don't
             know if the U.S. Coast Guard doesn't have enough assets, but
             they (Cubans) are arriving and they are drowning,'' said
             Arnaldo Iglesias, secretary of the exile group.

             ``We are just exercising our right to fly in international
             airspace,'' said Iglesias, who was in the only Brothers' plane
             that returned safely on Feb. 24. ``And also, this being the
             six month anniversary, we just want to pay our respects.''

             The volunteer group plans to send three planes to drop a
             wreath of flowers into the water at the approximate spot where
             its planes were shot down. The planes will carry equipment
             allowing them to be tracked, Iglesias said.

             In Washington, State Department spokesman Glyn Davies said the
             government has repeatedly warned the group to remain in
             international airspace.

             ``Obviously, Americans are free to express themselves and, you
             know, if there were to be a wreath dropping in international
             waters, that would not pose a problem,'' Davies said. ``But
             the warnings that we issued back after the shootdown by the
             Cuban government still stand in terms of taking care not to
             enter Cuban airspace, Cuban territorial waters.''

             An average of two dozen Cubans are plucked from boats headed
             to the United States each month, said Petty Officer Mark
             Mackowiak, spokesman for the Coast Guard in Miami, which
             covers all of the Caribbean and most of Florida.

             On Aug. 12, a 47-year-old mother and a 16-month-old infant
             drowned after a boat carrying 31 Cubans capsized in the
             Florida Straits. Two other passengers left the boat in search
             of help and haven't been seen since.

             Another seven Cubans survived high seas to land in the Florida
             Keys Wednesday and will have the chance to apply to stay in
             the United States.

             According to U.S. policy, rafters intercepted at sea, except
             for a very few cases, are returned to Cuba. Migrants who make
             it to land can ask immigration authorities to be allowed to
             stay.

             Davies confirmed the policy Thursday after Cuban authorities
             complained about the U.S. refusal thus far to repatriate 11
             Cubans who were rescued from the capsized boat. Relatives of
             the two victims were allowed to go to South Florida, where the
             remains were taken. Others were taken to the same destination
             because of illness.

             This has produced speculation in Cuba that the United States
             may be trying to provoke an exodus from Cuba similar to the
             one that occurred in 1994.

             Cuba also is seeking the return of three Cubans who hijacked a
             small plane which crashed into the Gulf of Mexico last Friday
             after being chased by a U.S. Customs plane.

             But the U.S. government has decided to prosecute the three.
             They were indicted Thursday on air piracy charges.