SAN JOSE, Costa Rica -- On June 20, Dr. Elizabeth Trujillo Izquierdo left a church where she had been vaccinating children. The Cuban surgeon was crossing the street when a car pulled up beside her.

She said three men stepped out, grabbed her and tried to drag her into the small white Toyota.

``I defended myself as best I could and used the entire repertoire of shouts and curses we Cubans use in such cases,'' Trujillo said last week in an interview at a secret site where she sought refuge after the kidnap attempt.

A businessman of Cuban origin who lives in Costa Rica is providing protection for her. He took her to a hospital in San Jose for treatment of her injuries.

``The doctor said we should report it to the police, but I couldn't do that because I am here without the knowledge of the Costa Rican authorities,'' Trujillo said.

During the first days of her stay in Costa Rica, Trujillo said, she was aided by a Roman Catholic nun from the Sisters of Charity. The nun confirmed that account but asked that she not be identified.

El Nuevo Herald tape-recorded more than one hour of conversation with Trujillo and has written notes of two other, brief interviews, conducted by phone. Most of the information she provided about herself was backed up by her college diplomas, Cuban passport and identity card.

Trujillo, who has connections to important Cuban government officials, escaped Cuba for Costa Rica in April. Before she was attacked, she wanted to keep her presence in Costa Rica a secret and to stay away from the press.

But she talked to El Nuevo Herald ``as a form of protection for myself and my husband, who also defected in Brazil in April, along with three other doctors. All are in hiding,'' she said.

Her husband, Dr. Felix A. Ochoa Cabrera, 56, is a half-brother of Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa, who was executed by Castro in 1989, in a controversial case that Castro said was connected to drug trafficking -- although many believe it was linked to an anti-Castro conspiracy.

Trujillo is the daughter of Isabel Izquierdo, known as ``The Galician,'' who was Castro's personal secretary for more than 30 years before retiring in 1992. Her uncle, Gerardo Trujillo Yanes, known as ``Manito,'' is the chief of Castro's bodyguards. Trujillo Yanes has been close to Castro since the early days of the Cuban Revolution and accompanies Castro at all times, carrying a mysterious metal briefcase.

When Trujillo left Cuba, she was working as a surgeon at the Center for Medical and Surgical Research (CIMEQ). On Friday, a woman who answered the phone at CIMEQ's Department of Surgery said that Dr. Trujillo ``no longer works here'' and hung up.

According to Trujillo, on June 19 she appeared before Cuban Consul Lionel Martinez, to ask for validation of her medical degrees.

Martinez, based in Nicaragua, travels to San Jose regularly to handle the consular needs of Cubans living in Costa Rica.

``. . . He took the $300 fee and validated the two diplomas almost without looking at them,'' Trujillo said. ``My mistake was to ask for validation of my son Lister's birth certificate. When he read it he realized who I was, but I left the place immediately.''

Lister Ochoa Trujillo, 14, lives in Cuba with his grandmother Isabel.

According to Trujillo, Martinez told her that an order to bring her back to Cuba had been sent to all Cuban embassies. She blames Martinez for the kidnap attempt the next day.

Trujillo said she thinks she escaped being abducted because children who saw her struggling rushed to her aid, thinking she was being mugged.

``The driver then shouted to one of the men: `Let her go, Mayito! We can't do it now.' ''

Repeated calls to the Cuban Embassy in Managua failed to produce a comment on Trujillo's account.