From News Services
                  Thursday, January 14, 1999; Page D07

                  Marlins P Livan Hernandez wants no part of any plan to play major league
                  exhibition games in Cuba.

                  The Cuban immigrant said he would be against anything that could bring
                  profit to Fidel Castro.

                  "I came to this country to have freedom," Hernandez told the Palm Beach
                  Post for a story yesterday. "I wouldn't want to go back to play in Cuba and
                  have part of my salary go to Fidel."

                  The Clinton administration recently announced a proposal to relax
                  longstanding trade restrictions against Cuba but said any profits from the
                  games should go to humanitarian efforts.

                  The Orioles are planning two exhibition games this spring against the Cuban
                  national team -- one in Baltimore, one in Cuba. The Marlins have no such
                  plans.

                  "I'd like to see doors open, and I'd like to see a lot of Cuban ballplayers come
                  to the U.S., as long as the money would be for them or if they stayed in this
                  country," said Hernandez, whose half-brother, Orlando "El Duque"
                  Hernandez, also defected from Cuba and now pitches for the Yankees.

                  "But they would have to return to Cuba with the money, and then it goes to
                  Fidel. I know all about that situation. I came here and left my family in Cuba
                  just to escape from that situation."

                  The last major league team to play in Cuba was the Brooklyn Dodgers in
                  1947.

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