HAVANA (AP) -- Prosecutors trying a Salvadoran man for terrorism on
                  Wednesday showed a videotape of the defendant describing how he planted
                  a string of explosive devices in hotels, including one that killed an Italian
                  tourist.

                  Shortly after the two-hour presentation of his confession began, Raul
                  Ernesto Cruz Leon complained of nausea and wept in a front-row bench.
                  The president of the five-member tribunal called a brief recess so the
                  defendant could see a doctor, but Cruz Leon never returned.

                  Instead, the screening of the reconstruction of the bombings, taped by
                  Interior Ministry officials shortly after Cruz Leon's arrest in 1997, went on
                  without him.

                  The tape began with Cruz Leon at the Ambos Mundos Hotel, in the room
                  where he stayed when he arrived in Havana in July 1997 for the first two
                  bombings.

                  "I brought the explosives in these two shoes," Cruz Leon told the camera,
                  pointing to a pair of boots by one of two hotel beds. He explained how he
                  bought them extra large so he could stuff the plastic explosive into the toes.

                  Then, Cruz Leon toured all the sites he bombed, showing how he sat in a
                  stall and armed the explosive with black electrical tape and an electronic
                  calculator as the timing device.

                  His account of each bombing was extremely detailed, down to the Bucanero
                  beer he ordered at the Copacabana Hotel. During the reconstruction, he
                  wore the same shorts, T-shirts and sandals he wore the days of the
                  bombings and carried the same Nikkon camera and black backpack with
                  the explosive materials

                  Cruz Leon is accused of -- and has admitted to -- planting bombs in five
                  hotels and a restaurant in a plot to scare away tourists and hurt a prime
                  source of income for the communist island. The bombings killed one man
                  and injured 11 other people, including seven foreigners.

                  He faces execution by firing squad if convicted. All death sentences are
                  automatically appealed to the Supreme Court.

                  Earlier Wednesday, Cuba's leading investigator in the case testified that
                  Cuban-American exiles paid Cruz Leon to plant the bombs.

                  Interior Ministry Investigator Roberto Hernandez specifically accused the
                  Miami-based Cuban-American National Foundation of paying the defendant
                  $4,500 for each bombing. During the first three days of hearings, however,
                  the government has not offered any hard evidence that the foundation paid
                  for the bombings.

                  Cruz Leon, who Cuban authorities describe as a U.S.-trained Salvadoran
                  army veteran, told the tribunal Monday that his motivation had been
                  financial, not political.

                  The foundation repeatedly has denied it funded the bombings, a charge the
                  Cuban government has made since it arrested Cruz Leon 18 months ago.

                  The trial, which could last through Friday, comes amid a toughening stance
                  against opponents by the Cuban government, which sees itself under
                  increasing attack by the U.S. government and the Miami-based exile
                  community.

                  On March 1, four well-known dissidents were tried by a closed court on
                  charges of furthering U.S. policies against the communist country. The
                  verdicts from that trial are pending.

                  Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.