HAVANA (AP) - Schemes to poison a chocolate milkshake and put
                   lethal powder in a scuba diving suit were among the 637 alleged attempts
                   on President Fidel Castro's life recounted this week in a lawsuit against the
                   U.S. government.

                   Hearings continued Tuesday in the lawsuit, filed in Havana in late May by
                   organizations connected to the government. The suit accuses the United
                   States of conducting a 40-year dirty war against the island nation.

                   It asks for $181 billion in damages for the deaths of 3,478 Cubans and
                   permanent physical damage to more than 2,000 others in a variety of acts
                   ranging from the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 to a string of bombings at
                   Havana hotels in 1997.

                   The hearings on Tuesday included testimony about a 1981 dengue
                   epidemic that Havana maintains was deliberately introduced on the island
                   by the American government in an attempt to topple Castro's communist
                   system. The epidemic killed 158 people, including 101 children.

                   No U.S. representative attended the court proceedings and the U.S.
                   government has not commented on the claims.

                   Scores of people testified and huge piles of written evidence were
                   presented. Attorneys for the plaintiffs are to offer their summation on
                   Wednesday.

                   While the Cuban government used the hearings to make a political point, it
                   appeared unlikely the lawsuit would result in any damages being paid.
                   There are no American funds in Cuba that can be frozen and seized.

                   The plaintiffs include the National Association of Small Farmers, the
                   Federation of Cuban Women, the Communist Workers of Cuba and the
                   Federation of University Students - all mass organizations associated with
                   Cuba's government.

                   The lawsuit appears to be Havana's answer to a lawsuit in the United
                   States.

                   In that case, a federal judge in Miami has ordered Cuba to pay $187
                   million to the families of three Americans killed in 1996 when Cuban
                   military jets shot down two small private planes off the island's coast.

                   Cuban authorities were angered by that lawsuit, and by attempts to seize
                   Cuban funds from telephone companies operating long-distance phone
                   service between the two countries.