BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

 When Brothers to the Rescue founder José Basulto buzzed over Havana on July
 13, 1995, he said he was encouraging "civil disobedience'' by the Cuban people.

 Now, more than five years later, Basulto's controversial violation of Cuban
 airspace has become a centerpiece for the defense of an accused Cuban spy.

 At issue is a seven-minute flight Basulto made in his Cessna 337 without
 permission from the Cuban government. Against prosecutors' objections, jurors in
 the Cuban spy trial were shown a videotape of the flight Thursday.

 On board with Basulto was co-pilot Guillermo Lares, who testified Thursday that
 he threw religious medallions and bumper stickers from the airplane. The stickers
 had the slogan "Compañeros No. Hermanos,'' or "Not Comrades. Brothers.''

 Basulto has yet to take the witness stand to talk about the flight, but a taste of
 what awaits him emerged in the courtroom Thursday.

 Defense attorney Paul McKenna has made it abundantly clear that he plans to
 present a trial-within-a-trial -- and his chief target is Basulto.

 McKenna represents accused spy master Gerardo Hernández, who is shootdown
 that killed four men. McKenna has said Basulto is to blame for the killings, for
 allegedly baiting Cuba with a series of provocations despite warnings against
 violating Cuban airspace.

 The United States and a U.N. investigation concluded that the shootdown
 occurred in international waters; Cuba maintains the shootdowns happened over
 Cuban territory.

 During direct examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes about
 the 1995 flyover, Lares said Basulto headed the Cessna south for Havana after
 they saw the flotilla boat Democracía cross into Cuban waters and get sideswiped
 by two Cuban patrol boats. Three protesters on the boat were injured.

 The boats and planes were part of a flotilla to mark the anniversary of an
 encounter that happened one year earlier, when a Cuban gunboat rammed and
 sank a tugboat commandeered by Cubans trying to flee the island.

 During McKenna's cross-examination, Lares repeatedly said he did not know or
 could not recall important details regarding the Havana overflight. He said he did
 not know what the flight plan was for that day.

 McKenna fired a series of explosive questions:

 Had he helped test "anti-personnel devices'' -- PVC pipes loaded with ammunition
 -- that were to be dropped into Cuba to foment a "popular uprising?'' Had he ever
 seen a MiG 23 fighter jet at Opa-locka Airport purchased for Brothers? Had
 Basulto ever told him he was ready to carry out a military mission against Cuba?
 Was he aware Basulto had tried to purchase a Czechoslovakian fighter jet?

 Lares answered "no'' to every question.

 Lares acknowledged that Brothers pilots routinely ignored warnings from Cuban
 air traffic control to avoid flying in ``restricted'' air zones because in reality those
 areas were outside Cuban territory, he said.

 But after the 1995 Cuba overflight, McKenna asked, hadn't Brothers been warned
 by the Federal Aviation Administration and by Cuba that ``a plane could be shot
 down'' if it again violated Cuban airspace?

 "Before '96?'' Lares asked. "I don't recall. I don't think so.''

 Lares acknowledged that Brothers donated funds to support dissidents on the
 island. But he disagreed with McKenna's contention that Brothers' mission
 evolved from humanitarian search and rescue into political activism. He also
 denied making another unauthorized flight over Cuba in 1994.

 Outside the jury's presence, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard warned Sofia
 Powell-Cosio, Basulto's lawyer, to stop nodding her head "yes or no'' as Lares
 testified, or "I'll have to ask you to leave.'' Powell-Cosio, who was sitting in the
 front row, said she was only answering questions from the woman sitting next to
 her.