BY JENNIFER BABSON

                                      MARATHON -- Nine people, most of them members of the
                                      anti-Castro Democracy Movement, piled onto a boat Wednesday
                                      afternoon bound for a fireworks protest in international waters about
                                      15 miles from Havana's coastline.

                                      The group was originally on a two-boat flotilla that left early
                                      Wednesday morning, but was forced to turn back about 12 miles
                                      from the Florida Keys when mechanical troubles disabled one of the
                                      boats, the Democracia. After towing the Democracia back to shore,
                                      participants boarded the second boat, the Human Rights, and
                                      departed again at about 3:30 p.m.

                                      ``The people took all their stuff, their fireworks, their wreaths, food
                                      and supplies, and they are on their way,'' Coast Guard spokesman
                                      Luis Díaz said.

                                      The Coast Guard was monitoring the voyage closely, said Díaz, and
                                      deployed three cutters to keep an eye on the Human Rights, from
                                      which about $1,500 worth of fireworks were slated to be launched
                                      Wednesday night or this morning.

                                      Originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, the fireworks display
                                      was supposed to coincide with a demonstration by Cubans on the
                                      island who pledged to bang pots and pans together, according to
                                      Ramón Saúl Sánchez, head of the Democracy Movement. A similar
                                      protest had been planned Wednesday in Little Havana.

                                      The effort is aimed at protesting the Cuban government's system of
                                      food rationing.