Cuban exile group promises to stage a 'maritime demonstration' off Cuba's coast during the summit of Unaligned Movement taking place this week in Havana.

BY LUISA YANEZ

A Miami exile leader on Tuesday announced plans for a symbolic demonstration in the waters off Cuba this weekend.

The reason: to have the group's call for democracy on the island heard by foreign leaders representing as many as 116 nations that comprise the Nonaligned Movement, which is holding a weeklong summit in Havana.

''We are asking for free elections in Cuba, not a succession of power from brother to brother as if Cuba were a dynasty,'' said Rámon Saúl Sánchez, head of the Democracy Movement, referring to Fidel Castro temporarily handing over power to his brother, Raúl.

The summit in Cuba is being held two months after it was announced that President Fidel Castro, 80, had undergone emergency surgery for an undisclosed intestinal ailment and had provisionally handed over power to his younger brother, Defense Minister Raúl Castro.

ATTRACTING ATTENTION

The group is staging its ''maritime demonstration'' to attract the attention of leaders from mostly developing nations attending this week's 14th annual summit of the Nonaligned Movement, which ends Saturday night. Among the countries represented are Venezuela, Iran, Bolivia, Yugoslavia and Malaysia.

At a morning press conference in Miami, Sánchez said the group's yacht, the 39-foot Democracia, will leave from Key West's Municipal Marina after midnight Friday and head toward the 12-mile limit of what Cuba considers its territorial waters.

The Democracia, which would arrive at its destination by around 10 a.m. Saturday, will ferry electoral ballots, fly a white flag, display giant posters of Cuba's political prisoners and drop white roses on the water. Mirrors will be flashed toward the island. About 20 people will be on board.

Sánchez said each leader attending the summit will receive a document containing the group's demands for Cuba's future on behalf of both Miami's exile community and Cuba's dissident movement. He would not elaborate on how the documents would be delivered.

Among the demands: free elections, the release of all political prisoners, government legalization of the opposition movement and the reunification of families, which includes allowing all Cubans to visit their homeland.

Sánchez said he hopes the U.S. government will not try to stop the ''one-boat flotilla'' Saturday.

Small, private vessels are required to obtain permits from the U.S. Coast Guard if they intend to leave Florida headed for Cuban waters, according to a 1996 presidential proclamation. Violators face incarceration, fines or the confiscation of vessels. ''We hope President Bush does not try to stop the activities we are announcing here today,'' Sánchez said. ``It is our duty to encourage elements of change inside Cuba.''

Sánchez, who staged his first flotilla in 1995, said this time they are taking only one vessel to discourage the Cuban government from committing ''a barbaric act'' against the group by claiming vessels from the United States were approaching the coastline.

''One boat, flying a white flag, is not very offensive,'' he said. Also, in the event the State Department asks the Coast Guard to stop the group, only the Democracia would be seized.

COAST GUARD NOTIFIED

Sánchez said he has notified local Coast Guard officials of the group's plan.

''We can't speculate of what was said at a press conference,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson. ``All we can say it that we encourage anyone taking a long trip to file a float plan and carry proper emergency and safety equipment.''

It's still unclear whether Fidel Castro will host a dinner for all the foreign leaders on Friday. If he does, it will mark his first public appearance since his surgery was announced July 31.