BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

                                      The Federal Aviation Administration took just eight days to
                                      respond to Havana's first complaint about Brothers to the
                                      Rescue founder José Basulto after he flew over Cuban
                                      airspace on July 13, 1995, according to a chronology
                                      outlined in the Cuban spy trial Thursday.

                                      Cuba, when seeking to justify the Brothers shoot-down, has
                                      said that it shot down two airplanes only after the United
                                      States ignored Havana's repeated complaints about
                                      violations of its sovereign airspace.

                                      Cuba formally lodged its protest about Basulto in an Aug.
                                      21, 1995, diplomatic note to the State Department, testified
                                      aviation consultant Charles Leonard. The FAA responded on
                                      Aug. 29, informing Cuba that it took the allegations seriously
                                      and would take enforcement action if federal air regulations
                                      had been violated.

                                      Shortly, the agency decided to clip Basulto's wings.

                                      Basulto's attorney has said he received an FAA letter
                                      outlining three options: surrender his pilot's license, seek a
                                      meeting with an FAA attorney or appeal to the National
                                      Transportation Safety Board. He sought the meeting.

                                      Leonard testified that the FAA had sent Basulto a letter of
                                      investigation on Aug. 3, 1995 -- weeks before Cuba first
                                      complained. Leonard read the chronology dates from a U.N.
                                      report on the shoot-down.

                                      On Oct. 5, 1995 -- six weeks after Cuba's original complaint
                                      -- the FAA notified Havana that it was charging Basulto for
                                      violating Cuban airspace and operating his plane recklessly,
                                      Leonard testified.

                                      Basulto did not deny flying over Havana. He has said he did
                                      it to distract Cuban gunboats that were ramming against an
                                      exile flotilla memorial service.

                                      The government is scheduled to rest its prosecution of five
                                      accused spies today. Accused spy ringleader Gerardo
                                      Hernández faces a possible life sentence if convicted of
                                      murder conspiracy in a Cuban MiG missile attack on the two
                                      planes on Feb. 24, 1996. Four fliers were killed.

                                      On Jan. 15, 1996, Cuba protested again, charging Brothers
                                      with overflying Havana with leaflets on Jan. 9 and 13. The
                                      group denied the charge.

                                      The FAA asked Havana for evidence to prove its charge,
                                      Leonard testified. On Feb. 20, 1996 -- four days before the
                                      shoot-down -- the State Department told Cuba that the FAA
                                      inquiry of Basulto was ongoing and that investigators were
                                      seeking more evidence, he testified.