BY ALFONSO CHARDY

                                      Brothers to the Rescue leader José Basulto acknowledged
                                      Friday that he refused to help the U.S. government track
                                      illegal arms shipments to Cuba because he broadly supports
                                      Cuban exile groups bent on overthrowing Fidel Castro
                                      violently.

                                      During his fifth and last day on the stand in the Cuban spy
                                      trial, Basulto also testified that he told federal agents he
                                      didn't support violent tactics. Nonetheless, Basulto's
                                      acknowledgement that he embraced the groups' goal of
                                      ridding Cuba of Castro violently appeared to contradict earlier
                                      testimony in which Basulto portrayed himself as a follower of
                                      Martin Luther King and Mohandas K. Gandhi.

                                      Questioning by Paul McKenna and Joaquin Méndez,
                                      attorneys for defendants Gerardo Hernández and Fernando
                                      González, elicited the statements as part of a strategy to
                                      cast Basulto as a terrorist.

                                      Basulto also acknowledged that a homemade flare loaded
                                      with ammunition that Brothers tested -- and intended to air
                                      drop to rafters -- could be used as a weapon, but only to
                                      shoot birds for food. Earlier, Basulto testified that the flare
                                      was intended to mark a raft for rescue.

                                      The defense blames Basulto for the Feb. 24, 1996,
                                      shoot-down of two Brothers planes by a Cuban MiG in which
                                      four people died because he disregarded Cuban warnings.

                                      Federal prosecutors are trying to persuade jurors that
                                      Hernández conspired with Cuba to bring about the
                                      shoot-down. McKenna says Hernández had no knowledge of
                                      Cuba's intent.

                                      As Basulto was grilled, tensions in the courtroom rose.
                                      Méndez and Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes
                                      sparred when Méndez asked Basulto why, if he so admired
                                      King and Gandhi, he did not follow their example and stay in
                                      Cuba to fight.

                                      ``Objection,'' Kastrenakes said, noting Méndez seemed to
                                      be arguing with the witness.

                                      When U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard overruled
                                      Kastrenakes, the prosecutor did not seem satisfied. An
                                      angry Méndez then pointed a finger at Kastrenakes and
                                      said: ``The court has ruled.''

                                      Judge Lenard admonished the attorneys not to fight in court.