By Rachel La Corte
Associated Press Writer
Saturday, July 18, 1998; 3:21 p.m. EDT

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) -- A small flotilla of Cuban exiles sailed near the communist-controlled island nation on Saturday to memorialize dozens who drowned trying to flee the country after their boats were rammed by Cuban government vessels. Pilots dropped smoke markers in a similar tribute.

Four boats organized by the exile group Democracy Movement brought 41 floating crosses to be dropped in the water along with roses and carnations at a site near Cuba's 12-mile territorial limit, a memorial to 41 Cubans who died four years ago trying to escape Fidel Castro's rule.

Three planes flown by members of the exile group Brothers to the Rescue passed over the flotilla before dropping six smoke markers above the spot where four compatriots were shot out of the skies by Cuban jet fighters in February 1996.

The plumes of smoke extended 3,000 feet into the air, said Jose Basulto of Brothers to the Rescue.

``It's always a moment of sadness every time I go out there,'' Basulto said. ``Every time the occasion calls for it, we will go there to remember our fallen, especially the ones who have been murdered by the government of Cuba.''

About eight hours after departing Key West amid shouts of ``Viva Cuba libre!'' (Long live a free Cuba!) and the singing of the Cuban national anthem, the flotilla carrying about 100 people stopped for the memorial service before heading back without incident, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which monitored the trip.

``It's sad. I'm so close but at the same time it's so far away,'' Ricardo Dartayet, a 15-year-old Miami boy who made the trip with his father, said before the boats departed. ``I would love to go to Cuba, but only if Fidel is not there.''

The two groups were calling attention to the shootdown and to 41 refugees who drowned in July 1994 when Cuban ships rammed their tugboat 13 de Marzo, which sank in the Straits of Florida.

Besides the memorial, the Democracy Movement brought mirrors to flash messages to Cubans on shore along ``El Malecon,'' a popular Havana promenade lined by a seawall.

``It's a symbolic way to unite a people divided by a wall of intolerance,'' said the group's leader, Ramon Saul Sanchez. ``It is a means to tell the Cuban people that we don't forget them.''

The Coast Guard monitored the excursion as a precaution.

``The U.S. government supports the freedom to demonstrate and the freedom to express opinion,'' Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Marcus Woodring said. ``What the U.S. does not support is the creation of international incidents.''

The 1996 attack on the Brothers to the Rescue planes was denounced by the U.N. Security Council as a violation of international law. The Havana government said the shootdown resulted when the civilian aircraft violated Cuban airspace. The United States said the shootdown, recorded on U.S. Customs radar, happened over international waters.