WASHINGTON -- Acts of ``civic resistance'' across Cuba were on the rise last year despite the government's crackdown on dissent, according to a task force of young Cuban Americans that favors a nonviolent transition to democracy on the island.

The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Directorate released its annual report, Steps to Freedom, on about 100 actions by dissident groups and individuals during 1998, compared with 44 in 1997. The activities ranged from work stoppages and protests against police to the establishment of independent libraries.

Orlando Gutierrez, one of the group's organizers, said the best proof that the government of President Fidel Castro was taking the dissident movement seriously was its determination to jail people and adopt draconian laws despite international opposition.

``Castro needs foreign investment so he's mindful of international exposure, but they are still trying to crush opposition,'' Gutierrez said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

The report was partially funded by the conservative International Republican Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes democratic projects in about 30 countries.