Thursday, July 8, 1999; 10:29 p.m. EDT

HAVANA (AP) -- A two-day standoff between a group of would-be rafters and authorities in eastern Cuba ended Thursday with the apparent arrest of the group that had hoped to sail to south Florida.

Residents of Puerto Padre said the standoff in waters some 400 miles east of Havana ended when the group either surrendered or was taken into custody by local authorities.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez told reporters Thursday that ``in Puerto Padre no type of disorder was created.'' Some media had described the incident as a riot or protest.

Gonzalez told a regular weekly news conference that authorities had received instructions ``not to use forceful measures'' when arresting people trying to emigrate illegally to the United States.

Eighteen people were trying to set sail for Florida two days ago when local police surprised them and ordered them to stop, said Maria Teresa Rojas, who had started out with the group but then abandoned the boat.

The group was unable to set sail because of mechanical problems but also refused to return to the beach, where local authorities awaited them.

For two days, they tried to fix the motor of their 24-foot-long, homemade boat while anchored in the port in full view of the entire community and police.

The debate over immigration between Cuba and the United States has heated up in the last week, most recently with Cuba's arrest over the weekend of two suspected smugglers off Mariel, just outside Cuba.

The men were taken into custody after a boat carrying 14 people bound for Miami overturned and one would-be immigrant was killed.

Gonzalez said his country had expressed to the United States its willingness to extradite 25 suspected alien traffickers for trial in American courts, but that U.S. officials had not responded.