Cuban troops Thursday arrested the 15 people whose attempt to flee from the northern port of Puerto Padre in a 21-foot boat sparked an unusual two-day standoff and a large gathering of people amid cries of ``Freedom!''

A Puerto Padre resident interviewed by phone from Miami said some of the would-be refugees arrested were taken briefly to a hospital before they were moved to the State Security offices in the provincial capital of Victoria de las Tunas.

The standoff began when the boat carrying the 15 people broke down in the middle of Puerto Padre's shallow bay, drawing police officers and border patrol officers as well as a large crowd of people standing on the harbor perimeter road.

Some among the crowd shouted ``Freedom!'' as the people on the boat tried to fix their motor. But police closed off access to the area and repeatedly blocked the boat from leaving the bay until troops managed to arrest the 15 around dawn Thursday, witnesses said.

Government spokesman Alejandro Gonzales told foreign correspondents in Havana on Thursday that ``no disorder has occurred'' and that ``total normality'' prevailed in Puerto Padre, about 450 miles east of Havana.

Those arrested were identified as Lilian Rubio Avila, Jose Cordero Calzada, Rafael Zajas Ajo, Guillermo Rojas Sanchez, Karel Velazquez Rojas, Yanelis Peña Hernandez, Joel Concepcion Pozo, Ivette Zaldivar Morales, Ricardo Rojas Gonzalez, Roberto Leyva Serrano, Doralkis Gonzalez Valladares, Gilberto Castro Martinez, Diagne Frickman Peña, Roberto Costa Sanchez and Andy Frickman Peña.

Their ages range from 18 to 30 and they all live in the Puerto Padre area, the port resident said.