Man tries to hijack plane in Cuba HAVANA (AP) =97 A man claiming to have two grenades tried to hijack a=20 passenger plane from Cuba's small Isle of Youth to the United States late=20 Monday, but was forced to land in Havana because of insufficient=20 fuel. Cuban authorities were negotiating early Tuesday with the man, who=20 was on board the grounded Soviet-made AN-24 plane along with 46 other=20 people. A government statement said the plane was on a regular flight from= =20 the Isle of Youth's main city of Nueva Gerona when the pilot reported it=20 was being hijacked to the United States by a man armed with grenades. "The= =20 Cuban authorities, for their part, will undertake the maximum effort to=20 find a solution that preserves the safety and lives of passengers and crew= =20 members," said the statement, distributed to international reporters=20 here. Authorities blamed the hijacking attempt on what Havana says is the= =20 lax treatment of six other suspected hijackers received last month after=20 successfully forcing another passenger plane from Cuba to Key West at=20 knifepoint. In the earlier hijacking, knife-wielding hijackers took control of a=20 twin-engine Douglas DC-3 with six crew members and 25 passengers as it=20 descended toward Havana on March 19 after a trip from the Isle of Youth.=20 They diverted the plane to Key West. The suspected hijackers were charged= =20 with conspiracy to seize an aircraft by force and violence. They were later= =20 granted bond but have not been able to post it, so they are still=20 jailed. "The entire responsibility of what could happen (in the latest=20 hijack attempt) will fall on the government of that country," the Cuban=20 statement said of the United States. The earlier hijack occurred as the=20 U.S.-war on Iraq was being launched and American fighter jets scrambled=20 from Homestead Air Force Reserve Base and a U.S. Customs Black Hawk=20 helicopter joined them to escort the blue and white plane to Key West. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week:http://www.ttsailing.org/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************