SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) -- The Catholic Church in El
                  Salvador announced on Sunday that it would intercede on behalf of two
                  Salvadorans who have been sentenced to death for planting bombs in Cuba.

                  San Salvador's Archbishop Monsignor Fernando Saenz said that church
                  officials in El Salvador and Cuba had sent letters asking Cuban President
                  Fidel Castro to spare the lives of 29-year-old Ernesto Cruz Leon and
                  41-year-old Rene Rodriguez Llerena.

                  The two were sentenced to death last March by a Havana court for
                  attempting to place bombs at tourist spots.

                  Cruz Leon was convicted of planting bombs in five hotels and one
                  restaurant, including one blast that killed an Italian tourist in 1997. Rodriguez
                  Llerena was convicted of planting a bomb in one hotel and of plotting similar
                  bombings at sites sacred to Cuban communists, including the tomb of
                  revolutionary icon Ernesto "Che" Guevara in the central city of Santa Clara.

                    Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.