The Justice Department urged a Miami judge Thursday to block an attempt to seize millions of dollars in U.S. payments to Havana, saying the move was illegal and could sever U.S.-Cuba telephone links.

Justice's action came in a suit by relatives of the victims of the Brothers to the Rescue shoot-downs in 1996, who were awarded a $187 million judgment against Havana by Miami federal Judge James Lawrence King in 1997.

The relatives have since been battling to collect on the judgment, and recently filed notice that they intended to garnishee payments made to Cuba's phone company by AT&T, MCI and six other U.S. telephone firms.

``Our government is once again stepping in on the side of terrorists, said Frank Angones, one of the relatives' lawyers. ``We must force Cuba to accept its guilt, since our government has not seen fit to prosecute.''

In a 17-page ``Statement of Interest, Justice Department lawyers used an unusual opening argument: The U.S. trade embargo bans any financial dealings with Cuba, including garnishments, unless specifically licensed by Washington.

It added that Cuba's ETECSA phone company, a joint venture between the government and an Italian firm, is an independent firm and therefore cannot be roped into the relatives' suit against the Cuban government and its air force.

``The United States condemns the unlawful acts committed by [Cuba] and sympathizes with the devastating losses experienced by the plaintiffs, it said. ``Nevertheless, plaintiffs' interests must defer to . . . law.

But the statement went beyond legalities and into foreign policy, noting that Havana had vowed that it would cut U.S.-Cuba telephone links if its share of the income is garnisheed.

``Our position is very simple: If these services are not paid for, then these services will not continue, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez repeated Thursday.

``This result would seriously impair the United States' foreign policy and humanitarian goals with respect to Cuba, the Justice Department statement said, adding:

``Branches of the government have determined that maintaining direct telecommunications services toward Cuba is a critical element of our policy toward Cuba, and in particular of our policy to encourage development of a civil society independent of the Cuban government and to promote an eventual peaceful transition to democracy.

The U.S. government, the statement added, ``has a strong humanitarian interest in enabling family members in both countries to maintain direct person-to-person contact.

The statement is the second that the Justice Department has filed in the complicated maneuvering unleashed as the relatives of the Brothers to the Rescue victims sought to collect on Judge King's $187 million judgment.

The relatives first went after tens of millions of dollars in Cuban assets in the United States frozen by the State Department since the 1960s, but ran into opposition from the State and Treasury departments.

They then turned to the money being paid to Cuba by U.S. telephone firms as Havana's share of the costs of U.S.-Cuba telephone links. That amounted to an estimated $60 million to $70 million in 1997.

Further complicating the issue was a provision passed by Congress last year specifically lifting any immunity that might protect the U.S. assets of foreign nations blamed for terror attacks that kill U.S. citizens.

The provision was designed to help the relatives of victims of the Brothers to the Rescue downings -- shot down by Cuban MiGs over international airspace -- as well as the Pan Am Flight 007 downing in Lockerbie and a terror attack in Israel that killed an American teenager.

President Clinton signed the bill into law but immediately suspended its application under a disputed interpretation of its text.

The relatives of the victims involved in all three cases care about justice and not money, Angones said.

``The only weapon the families have in their hands is to pursue the Cuban government through its assets, he said. ``It is clearly not what they want, but for the time being it is a moral sanction.

Herald staff writer David Kidwell contributed to this report.