By FRANK DAVIES
             Herald Staff Writer

             WASHINGTON -- Highlighting the plight of four dissidents in Cuba, leaders on
             both sides of Capitol Hill are pushing bipartisan resolutions to condemn the Cuban
             government for human rights abuses.

             In the House, Miami Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has introduced a measure
             criticizing Cuba's ``great repression of internal dissent'' and calling on the Clinton
             administration to ``take all steps necessary'' to secure a resolution condemning
             Cuba's rights record at the upcoming U.N. Human Rights Commission meeting in
             Geneva.

             A spokesman for the International Affairs Committee said Thursday that the
             House resolution will be considered by the committee next week, with a vote on
             the House floor possible by March 23.

             Ros-Lehtinen's resolution has the support of the GOP leadership, including
             International Relations Chairman Benjamin Gilman of New York, and Democrats
             Peter Deutsch and Robert Wexler of South Florida, and Steve Rothman and Bob
             Menendez of New Jersey.

             In the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, senators heard an impromptu debate
             Wednesday on the embargo while conducting a hearing on a similar resolution
             condemning Cuba that is backed by Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., and
             Florida's two senators, Democrat Bob Graham and Republican Connie Mack.

             One Cuban exile, Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, condemned the embargo as ``an insult
             to Cubans'' that helped keep Castro in power. But two others -- Luis Zuñiga,
             president of the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, and Frank Calzon, director
             for the Center for a Free Cuba -- said it had helped weaken the Cuban military
             and had forced some economic reforms on the island.