Herald Staff Report

 HAVANA -- Four dissidents were arrested Friday for staging an anti-government
 protest during an annual march of the sick and faithful.

 While others walked and even crawled to San Lazaro Church to plead for miracle
 cures, four dissidents chained themselves together and shouted ``Freedom for
 political prisoners!''

 The four, wearing identical T-shirts with photos and lists of Cuba's political
 prisoners, continued to shout as they were thrown to the ground by eight
 plainclothes police officers. The officers shuffled them into a Lada, a Soviet-made
 car used by the Cuban secret police.

 A few of the faithful marching alongside responded with shouts of their own: ``Viva
 Fidel y la revolución!'' praising President Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution.

 The highly unusual display by political dissidents at a religious event was the third
 public protest in Cuba in a month and a half.

 Those arrested, Diosdado Gonzalez, Marcel Valenzuela, Jose Aguilar and Carlos
 Oquendo, are members of the Peace, Love and Liberty Party, the Lawton
 Foundation and the 13th of July Foundation. Human rights activists in Havana
 reported that 30 others who had planned to participate in the protest were
 detained or ordered not to leave their homes.

 Each year Cuban police closely monitor the highly emotional Feast of San Lazaro
 event.

 Lazaro (Lazarus) is not recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, but
 is popular among many Cuban faithful. Known in Santeria as Babalu Aye, Lazaro
 was a crippled leper who asked a rich man for scraps of food in Jesus' parable in
 the New Testament book of Luke. Upon his death, Lazaro went to heaven
 because he had suffered so much on earth, according to the parable.

 Each Dec. 17, thousands of Cubans walk, often barefoot, for hours or days to
 reach the shrine just southwest of Havana. A few arrive on their hands and knees,
 bleeding by the time they reach the church.

 They come to pray for a cure for a loved one's illness and make promises to San
 Lazaro in return. Some offer trinkets, flowers or cigars in thanks for a cure or a
 granted wish. So many people arrive for the festivities that church pews are
 removed to make room. People missing limbs or wearing bandages -- and the
 healthy as well -- offered prayers and thanks Friday as they decorated the church
 floor with candles.

 Jose Herrera Torres, his bare feet blistered, filthy and swollen, carefully lit red and
 white candles he lined up on the floor. He began the journey to the church at
 midnight and arrived at 5:30 a.m. It is a sacrifice he has made annually since
 Dec. 17, 1971, when his mother Pura was blinded in a hit-and-run car accident
 outside the same church.

 ``Every year since then, I have come here to pray that Lazaro will bring my
 96-year-old mother 96 more years. I ask for the maximum,'' Herrera said. ``I don't
 want her to die. I would rather die, or give her an eye so she can see. Since 1971,
 my mother has not seen me: that is my struggle.''

 To prepare for the day's events, Herrera shunned shoes all month.

 ``I've gone 17 days with my feet to the ground,'' he said. ``That was the promise I
 made for my mother.''

 Georgina Herrera Pupo attended the services Friday to seek help for a 20-year-old
 daughter diagnosed with AIDS two years ago.

 ``I have nothing, so I can't offer Lazaro anything,'' she said, ``but I'll tell him that if
 my daughter, Mayte, looks good on the 17th of December next year, looks how I
 want her to look, I'll bring what I can -- maybe a bouquet of flowers or a candle.''

 Julio Basulto, his right eye permanently swollen shut from a car accident 38
 years ago, said the miles-long march is an important tradition that is easy for him
 to carry out.

 ``The six-hour walk is not hard,'' Basulto said. ``These shoes are old, but they're
 comfortable. There are people with one leg who walk for days with no shoes at
 all.''