WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Cuban exiles asked the Clinton
                  administration on Thursday to follow Spain's example in prosecuting former
                  Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet by opening a criminal case against Cuba's
                  leader Fidel Castro.

                  The Cuban American National Foundation urged Clinton in a letter to
                  instruct Attorney General Janet Reno to prosecute Castro for the murder of
                  three U.S. citizens and Cuban exiles shot down by MiG-29 jets in February
                  1996.

                  "Castro's victims ask the world not to differentiate between right-wing and
                  left-wing dictators," CANF vice-chairman Jorge Mas Santos told a news
                  conference.

                  Encouraged by Pinochet's arrest in London on Oct. 16 at the request of a
                  Spanish judge, CANF asked the Spanish courts on Thursday to seek
                  Castro's detention and prosecution on the same charges of genocide, torture
                  and terrorism.

                  The Miami-based exile group run by Castro's right-wing opponents also
                  sought criminal charges in Spain against his brother Raul Castro and Cuban
                  tourism minister Osmany Cienfuegos.

                  The case was presented to the Spanish High Court in Madrid that ruled that
                  Pinochet can be tried in Spain for crimes against humanity. The former
                  Chilean strongman is fighting extradition and has appealed to Britain's highest
                  court.

                  U.S. District Court in Florida rendered a $187 million verdict last year in a
                  civil case that held the Cuban government responsible for the downing of
                  two Cessna planes over the Florida Straits during an anti-Castro protest in
                  1996.

                  Four Cuban exiles, three of them U.S. citizens, were killed. The Cuban
                  exiles were joined by Democratic Congressman Peter Deutsch, of Florida,
                  who urged the U.S. government to present criminal charges against Castro.

                  Mas said the case in Spain involved 300 people who were allegedly victims
                  of Castro's communist regime.

                  The defendants included Janette Hernandez, who survived the sinking of a
                  tugboat that was rammed by a Cuban Coast Guard vessel in July 1994 as it
                  sailed away from the island crammed with 72 people. Forty-two people
                  drowned, many of them children.

                  Hernandez broke down in tears at the news conference as she described
                  how her sister-in-law and a nephew died. She said Cuban Coast Guards
                  beat people back into the water with sticks when they tried to climb to
                  safety.

                  Miami's large Cuban exile community was quick to point the finger at Castro
                  when Pinochet was arrested in London.

                  "We want to see Fidel Castro sat in front of an international tribunal and
                  tried for his crimes," Mas said.

                  "The world has gotten smaller for dictators," said CANF lawyer George
                  Fowler.
 

                  Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.