SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) -- Mexico's ambassador to El
                  Salvador confirmed Tuesday that his government has asked Cuba to spare
                  the lives of two Salvadorans condemned to death for a string of Havana
                  bomb attacks.

                  Ambassador Jose Ignacio Pina did not specify when Mexico sent the
                  request for clemency for Ernesto Cruz Leon, 27, and Otto Rene Rodriguez
                  Llerena, 40. He said their cases are still before the Cuban Supreme Tribunal,
                  not yet at the level of state diplomacy.

                  Rodriguez Llerena and Cruz Leon were convicted in March of terrorism
                  charges and sentenced to death. Rodriguez Llerena was convicted of
                  planting a bomb in a hotel and attempting to import explosives. Cruz Leon
                  was found guilty of planting bombs that killed an Italian tourist and wounded
                  11 other people.

                  The men claimed anti-Castro Cuban exiles planned the bombings to hurt the
                  communist island's tourism revenue.

                  Ignacio stressed that his government is not acting on its on, but at the request
                  of El Salvador.

                  In San Salvador, meanwhile, students began a campaign Tuesday to collect
                  a million letters asking for clemency for the men. They plan to send the
                  letters to the United Nations to seek its intervention.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.