BY MARIKA LYNCH

 Oakland did it. Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, did it, too. Now a group wants St. Augustine
 to be the next of a growing number of U.S. towns to create sister city relationships in Cuba.

 The North Florida city has chosen the island's eastern village of Baracoa. Organizers believe it's an
 ideal fit: Both St. Augustine and the port town are the longest continuously inhabited settlements in
 their countries. Both came into existence to protect the Spanish fleet, boast centuries-old forts and
 have renowned chocolate factories.

 But the thought of any formal relationship with Castro's Cuba is sending shock
 waves through many in the city's small, usually dormant, Cuban-American
 community. It may seem like a fine idea in Madison, Wis., Mobile, Ala., and the
 five other American cities that have established ties -- but this is Florida, says Dr.
 Ernest Caramés, who is leading a petition drive to stop the movement.

 ``We have people daily throwing themselves into the Straits of Florida from that
 prison camp,'' said Caramés, a St. Augustine internist. ``My grandfather fought for
 Cuba along with American units in the war for independence. My father suffered
 and shed his blood in Cuba's prisons. My uncles shed their blood in Cuba's
 prisons. I cannot live in peace knowing we are the first city in Florida to develop a
 relationship with a communist regime.''

 Caramés said he has never been involved in exile causes -- St. Augustine doesn't
 have any Cuban-American civic groups and the doctor has stayed away from
 Miami, he said, precisely to avoid exile politics.

 But he has collected 90 signatures in the last week, he said, because his Miami
 Beach father would ``have a stroke'' if he knew about the proposal.

 The controversy has disturbed St. Augustine Mayor Len Weeks, who helped
 spearhead the sister city effort by attending a conference in Havana this spring.
 Now, he finds himself in hourlong debates about Cuba-U.S. relations, receiving a
 deluge of e-mails for and against the project -- 30 on Friday alone.

 Though he once thought the sister city relationship had overwhelming support and
 was a sure bet, he has now planned to raise the issue at a St. Augustine
 commission meeting today to air comments.

 ``I am very sorry this issue has somehow divided us. This has been a learning
 experience for all of us,'' Weeks said. ``We're not used to this kind of controversy
 surrounding something like this. This shouldn't have been a controversial issue.
 It's touching on some very deep wounds.''

 BOOMING INTEREST

 U.S.-Cuba sister city relationships have been booming over the last decade -- and
 have accelerated since the Clinton administration relaxed travel restrictions and
 began promoting people-to-people contact.

 The first to participate were Mobile and Havana, which have an odd historical
 connection: The French soldier who founded the Alabama city died of yellow fever
 and was buried in the Cuban capital.

 The concept spread -- now six cities besides St. Augustine are striving for a
 connection -- and competition has grown. Oakland and Philadelphia sparred over
 Santiago, Cuba's second largest city. Oakland won, but only after Mayor Jerry
 Brown flew to the island to make a personal pitch. Philadelphia settled for
 Cárdenas, hometown of Elián González.

 In fact, it was the plight of the 6-year-old boy that helped spur interest in the
 program, said Ricardo González, a Cuban American who started a relationship
 between his adopted hometown of Madison and Camagüey, Cuba, the city of his
 ancestors.

 ``All of the sudden, and particularly in the past year, Cuba has been front and
 center before the American people. Even before the Elián González thing, there
 was the cigar craze, the success of Cuban music,'' González said.

 ``It has been an awakening and, Americans, their mouths are watering with Cuba,
 if you will.''

 The U.S.-Cuba connections are run by a nonprofit group that is separate from
 Sister Cities International, which was founded to curb the spread of communism
 and doesn't recognize connections with countries that don't have relations with
 the United States.

 The St. Augustine effort was started by a group of residents who gathered to
 discuss Caribbean culture. Their interest in Cuba grew after watching the
 documentary Buena Vista Social Club  and listening to a José Martí scholar.

 SHARED HISTORY

 The city's history is intertwined with Cuba's. Groups of exiles flock there annually
 to visit the first grave of Father Félix Varela, the 19th Century priest who labored
 to free his homeland from Spanish rule. (Varela's remains were removed to
 Havana in the early 1900s.) While at the May U.S.-Cuba sister cities conference
 in Havana, three of the group's members traveled to Baracoa. At the conference,
 group member Dr. Ron Dixon met with 27 dentists. He realized a relationship
 could help the dentists get surgical gloves without holes, drill bits and a new
 machine to make crowns and bridges.

 The group also wants to help preserve Baracoa's archives and records, which they
 hope will shed light on Florida's own history.

 There is a fundamental lack of understanding between Cuban and American
 people because of travel restrictions, Dixon said. The program could help alter
 that and ultimately bring change to Cuba, he said.

 ``I'm of the personal belief that after 41 years of revolution and 38 years of the
 embargo, change hasn't come from the top down. Perhaps the bottom up is the
 answer,'' he said. ``Grass-roots change.''

 ABOUT FRIENDSHIPS

 Even though the relationship is formed between governments -- in this case the
 St. Augustine commission and the municipal assembly in Baracoa -- supporters
 say the effort is really about friendships between people.

 But those in St. Augustine who disagree with establishing a sister city in Cuba
 believe anyone who wants to help the Cuban people can send aid through other
 established routes like church groups -- not by forming a relationship between two
 municipalities.

 The Cuban-American community is small, an estimated 200 out of a city of
 12,000, said Paul Fagundo, a St. Augustine Cuban American who volunteers to
 care for Varela's grave. But he has contacted the Miami-based Cuban National
 Heritage association for help, and says many in his community vow to fight it, he
 said.

 ``It's devastating to anybody who believes in democracy and freedom and liberty,''
 he said.