October 6, 1993

As Cuba's economic and political crisis deepens, exiles here are reaching out to their kin on the island as never before by sending aid, exchanging visits and seeking their advice on how to ease Fidel Castro from power. The monolithic core that once dominated exile politics is splintering, and moderates are emerging as a vital new force among Cuban-Americans. Convinced that Mr. Castro's fall is imminent, exiles here have plunged into an impassioned debate over how to bring down his 34-year dictatorship without inflicting further hardship on Cuba's 11 million people.

Rudolph W. Giuliani, using his wife and a running mate as surrogates, unleashed new television advertisements yesterday that accuse the Dinkins campaign of playing up the issue of race to distract from questions about the Mayor's competence. The ad campaign began as Mr. Giuliani, the Republican-Liberal candidate, virtually completed raising the $8 million he is allowed to spend in the race, freeing him to move into a more intense period of campaigning, his aides said. A fund-raising dinner last night at the Sheraton New York Hotel in Manhattan was attended by 1,600 supporters, and aides said they expected to take in $1.4 million before expenses.

Companies Shell Oil will spend $1.2 billion on a giant field in the Gulf of Mexico, intending to push offshore-recovery technology to the deepest levels yet. The announcement was welcomed by the drilling industry, where activity is the lowest in decades. [ Page D1. ] The main Diet Coke advertising account was moved to Lowe from Lintas, the agency that helped introduce the brand with great success in 1982. The move came amid slumping soda sales and Coke's dissatisfaction with Lintas ads. [ D1. ]

American and other United Nations reinforcements took more than nine hours Sunday to reach United States Army Rangers holding off hundreds of heavily armed Somalis, and the delay contributed directly to the deaths of at least a dozen American soldiers, Pentagon officials said today. The American component of the rescue team, the Quick Response Force, did not have the proper equipment, and their Pakistani and Malaysian counterparts did not have the training or the orders to prepare quickly for a rescue, the officials said. 'Routine' Mission Pentagon officials said the raid by the Rangers should have been a routine search-and-seizure mission. How it ended in a fiery debacle is a story of bad luck, faulty intelligence and poor planning, said American and United Nations military officials in Washington and Mogadishu who are still piecing the story together.

The Coca-Cola Company rocked Madison Avenue yesterday by moving its main Diet Coke account from the advertising agency that helped introduce the brand with great success in 1982. The account for Diet Coke advertising in English-speaking countries, estimated to be worth $95 million in annual billings, was moved from Lintas New York to Lowe & Partners of New York.