(Adds background paragraph 10) By Anthony Boadle HAVANA, May 8 (Reuters) - Cubans think their country's communist authorities will execute two military deserters who shot dead an officer and a soldier in an attempt to hijack a plane to the United States. Human rights groups are calling on Cuba not to apply the death penalty, which is carried out by firing squad. On the streets of Havana, Cubans take for granted that the would-be hijackers will be shot. "When innocent people lose their lives in Cuba, people are enraged and demand that heads roll," said taxi driver Arturo, who declined to give his surname. "A violent kidnapping like this is considered an act of terrorism in Cuba and you pay heavily for that," said house painter Jose. "I think they will be executed." Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, anticipating international criticism from his sickbed, said in an editorial published on Tuesday that many people abroad are waiting to see how Cuba will punish the hijackers. Castro said Cubans were "deeply angered" by the hijack attempt and he blamed his longtime nemesis the United States for inspiring violent defections with a promise of impunity. "We need a great deal of serenity and cool heads to face such problems," Castro, who has not appeared in public for nine months, wrote in the Communist Party newspaper Granma. The two recruits escaped from an army base with AK-47 assault rifles 10 days ago after killing a guard. On Thursday they commandeered a bus with hostages, burst into Havana airport and seized an empty Boeing 737, demanding to be flown to the United States. One hostage, an army lieutenant colonel, was shot dead before the recruits were captured. Cuban law allows the death penalty for armed rebellion and plane hijackings that involve the kidnapping or death of a passenger. Cubans under the age of 20 cannot be sentenced to death. Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez believes Cuba will not hesitate in executing the recruits because this was the second case of violent desertion in army ranks in four months. Three soldiers shot dead two Interior Ministry officers and fled from a prison they were guarding in the eastern province of Santiago on Dec. 20, but were soon captured, Sanchez said. His Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation is calling on the international community to petition the Cuban government to spare the recruits' lives. Havana has ignored such pleas for clemency in the past. Three men who attempted to hijack a Havana ferry without hurting any of their hostages were summarily executed in April 2003, leading to widespread international criticism of Cuba. Along with a crackdown on dissent, the executions caused a three-year freeze in relations with the European Union. Capital punishment was abolished in Cuba in 1940 and reintroduced after Castro's 1959 revolution, when hundreds of members of the ousted right-wing dictatorship accused of rights abuses were shot. International rights groups who oppose the death penalty say the lack of fair and transparent trials in Cuba makes the use of capital punishment even more egregious. "Amnesty International would strongly oppose the passing of the death sentence should the accused be found guilty," said Josefina Salomon, spokeswoman for the rights group in London. The United States is the only country in the Americas that has carried out executions since 2003, she said.
