By Andrew Cawthorne
HAVANA, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Cuba and the United States scrambled fighter jets on Saturday over the Florida Straits when an American pilot buzzed Havana illegally to drop anti- communist leaflets calling President Fidel Castro an ``old dinosaur.''
A major confrontation was avoided, however, as the small Cessna 172, piloted by a Vietnamese-born, 51-year-old ``strident anti-communist,'' was guided back to Florida unharmed after dumping hundreds of pamphlets on the Cuban capital.
It was the first unauthorised flight into Cuban airspace since Havana shot down two planes flown near the Caribbean island by the Miami-based exile group, Brothers to the Rescue, in 1996. Four pilots were killed in that incident.
``For this plane to arrive today out of the blue is shocking,'' a U.S. official told Reuters. ``Fortunately, everybody behaved properly, and a shootdown was avoided.''
The single-engine Cessna flew low across the 90-mile (145- km) sea division to avoid radar detection as it invaded Cuban airspace shortly before 8:00 a.m. (1300 GMT).
As the plane circled over Havana, Cuba launched two MiG fighter jets to force it back north toward Florida, U.S. sources said. The U.S. Air Force then sent aloft an F-16 to monitor and provide protection as the plane returned.
The U.S. Customs Service confirmed details of the incident, and said the Cessna's pilot was a ``strident anti-communist'' with no apparent ties to Castro's exiled foes in Miami.
``Suffice to say this is a very lucky man to be alive right now,'' Customs spokesman Michael Sheehan said. ``We're glad the Cubans showed some restraint and luckily he was able to make it back to America safely.''
Cuban officials were not available for comment, and state media did not mention the incident.
Havana residents said they saw the plane fly over the coast from the north, then along Havana's seafront Malecon boulevard, before swooping over the Old Havana quarter.
The small, single-sheet leaflets were quickly collected by Cuban police, as on similar occasions in the past when planes flown by U.S.-based Cuban-American exiles dropped propaganda.
Saturday was the 41st anniversary of Castro's Jan. 1, 1959, revolution, which is given more importance by the ruling Communist Party than New Year's celebrations.
``I heard a plane, then saw it drop pamphlets,'' said Ricardo Shane, a resident of Central Havana. ``I thought it was a Cuban thing, a slogan for Elian, but then I saw it and realised it must be from the other side.''
He was referring to a U.S.-Cuba custody dispute over 6-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez, which has sparked a succession of mass rallies in Cuba calling for him to be sent back to the island from Florida.
The Spanish-language leaflet bore an illegible signature under the title ``Commander-in-chief of the World Anti-Communist Revolutionary Forces.''
Titled ``Proclamation,'' it began with a reminder of the fall of communist governments in the former Soviet bloc. ``The Cuban communists fight on in their mortal struggle, but the old dinosaur Fidel Castro and his followers insist in opposing the evolutionary trend of humanity,'' it said.
``God and Justice require all Cuban patriots to stand up and declare the death of the inhuman and tyrannical regime.''
The leaflet finished with action points urging Cubans to take to the streets in a general strike, protest outside strategic military centres, occupy state media buildings and coordinate with anti-Castro forces within and outside Cuba.
The pilot, who lives in south Florida, rented the Cessna at Miami's Tamiami Airport and flew to Key West, where he refueled before leaving for Cuba early on Saturday, Sheehan said. Customs Service radar monitored the entire flight.
``Anywhere there is no freedom, I come there to fight,'' said the pilot, identified by Miami TV station WSVN as Ly Tong. ``I try to encourage the Cuban people to rise up.''
U.S. authorities said the pilot moved to the United States in 1984 and became a citizen in 1988. They released him after he voluntarily surrendered his pilot's license. The Federal Aviation Administration and other agencies are investigating, and charges are pending.
21:08 01-01-00
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