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U.S. set to guard Cuban memorial

WASHINGTON -- Determined to head off another deadly confrontation between Cuban warplanes and unarmed civilians, President Clinton yesterday ordered the Coast Guard to escort an armada of Cuban exile aircraft and boats to a memorial demonstration this weekend for the pilots shot down off the island's coast last Saturday.

Clinton directed the Coast Guard, with U.S. Navy and Air Force planes standing by to add military muscle, to prevent a Cuban attack on the exiles -- while also making sure the demonstrators do not penetrate Cuba's waters or airspace.

"The president has approved a strong warning to the Cuban government not to violate basic norms of international conduct," White House spokesperson Mike McCurry said in announcing Clinton's decision. "We will not tolerate the loss of American lives."

But he added: "Unauthorized entry by U.S. aircraft and vessels into Cuban territory is prohibited, and firm legal action will face those who violate this prohibition."

The president's decision, reached after a series of White House meetings, is intended to make sure that members of the Brothers to the Rescue exile group will be able to conduct a peaceful and dignified memorial tomorrow honoring four of the organization's pilots who died when Cuban warplanes blasted their two tiny Cessna aircraft from the sky.

The U.S. government and the Brothers group insist that the downed planes were not in Cuban airspace at the time; the Cuban government contends that they were.

Although Coast Guard ships and aircraft do not carry armaments capable of combating Cuban warplanes, McCurry said, Clinton "is confident the Pentagon can ... make sure that the steps he's outlined today are effective." He did not elaborate, but the aircraft carrier Enterprise and its battle group are operating off Puerto Rico.