BY JAY WEAVER

 Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas Friday dipped into his re-election campaign
 chest and gave $1,000 to the legal fund for Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez.

 Florida sugar magnates Alfy and Pepe Fanjul chipped in another $10,000 to the
 trust, set up this week to pay for the effort to stop the federal government from
 returning the boy to Cuba.

 Armando Gutierrez, spokesman for Elian's Miami relatives, said these were the
 biggest donations to the Elian Gonzalez Defense Trust Fund. He estimated a
 total of $15,000 in contributions to the fund through Friday evening.

 In January, the relatives sued the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the
 hope of winning a political asylum hearing for the 6-year-old so he can stay in
 Miami. His father in Cuba wants the boy returned.

 U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore must decide whether to order INS to hear
 Elian's asylum claim, which was requested by his Miami relatives. Moore had not
 ruled by late Friday.

 A spokesman for Penelas' re-election campaign said the mayor strongly believes
 Elian should have ``his day in court.''

 U.S. REUNION URGED

 ``He has felt all along that the child should have full legal recourse,'' said Penelas'
 campaign spokesman Ric Katz. ``He has also said the boy should be reunited
 with his father -- here. The ideal circumstances would be that the father immigrate
 here and live with the child.''

 Under Florida campaign finance law, a politician can make a contribution to a
 cause such as Elian's legal fund as long as it is reported as an expense.

 A group of Miami business people established the boy's legal trust fund at Ocean
 Bank on Monday.

 Since Elian was rescued at sea after losing his mother on a boat trip from Cuba in
 late November, the legal team for his Miami relatives has worked for free,
 Gutierrez said. The new donations will mostly pay for future expenses, to be
 approved by the fund's trustees.

 The first major fund-raiser is being held this weekend on Spanish-language radio
 stations in Miami.

 CUBAN CRITICISM

 Word of Elian's new legal fund drew scathing criticism from Cuba.

 During a televised forum Thursday night in Havana, a panel of lawyers and
 journalists scoffed at the raising of funds ``for the alleged financing of legal costs
 incurred by [Elian's] relatives, all of which foretells a new and colossal fraud,''
 according to the Communist Party daily Granma.

 The paper cited Tubal Paez, president of the Cuban Journalists Union, as saying
 that ``the counterrevolutionary industry has had 40 years' experience in collecting
 money so its members can pocket huge amounts.

 ``The money now being begged for is going to land at Ocean Bank, where
 Marisleysis happens to work. It's all kept in the family,'' the newspaper said.

 The paper was referring to Elian's cousin, Marisleysis. She and her father, Lazaro
 Gonzalez, have taken care of the boy in their Little Havana home.

 But the stressful experience has taken its toll on Marisleysis, 21, who has been
 in and out of a few hospitals for tests during the past three months. On Friday,
 she was released from Mercy Hospital, Gutierrez said.

 ``She was exhausted and running a fever,'' he said. ``Every test came out OK [at
 Mercy]. She's back home with her family.''

 Herald staff translator Renato Perez contributed to this story.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald