BY ELAINE DE VALLE

 Calm was the order of the day Tuesday for South Florida's Cuban exiles, even
 though they were disappointed about the federal court ruling on Elian Gonzalez,
 the community's latest rallying point.

 No streets were blocked, no intersections closed, no protests on strategic
 corners. There were no masses waving flags or anti-Castro signs.

 By late afternoon, about two dozen people had gathered outside the small Little
 Havana house where Elian Gonzalez has lived since he was plucked from the sea
 four months ago this Friday. The boy was found clinging to an inner tube after a
 tragic voyage from Cuba that left his mother and 10 others dead.

 As the boy's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez, drove up just after 2 p.m., they
 chanted, ``Let him stay. Let him stay.''

 Exile leaders made no calls to action, many stating that they wanted to allow the
 judicial process to continue.

 ``We are going to wait to see what happens with the appeal,'' said Ninoska
 Perez-Castellon, a spokeswoman for the Cuban-American National Foundation.

 ``We were expecting this. We knew there were going to be appeals, and this is a
 process that needs to take its course,'' she said. ``But we are confident that this
 boy will have his day in court and that his welfare is considered.''

 Democracy Movement leader Ramon Saul Sanchez urged the community to keep
 cool.

 ``We are going to keep monitoring the situation,'' Sanchez said. ``These moments
 are critical because the government could consider that they have some latitude
 to take the boy, but I imagine that they won't do that already knowing about the
 intent to appeal.''

 He added that, most likely, leaders would only organize protests if the INS did not
 allow the appeals process to move forward.

 ``We will only participate in demonstrations if the government intends to pass over
 the other recourses the boy has -- the court of appeals and the Supreme Court.''

 Miguel Saavedra, president of Vigilia Mambisa, was also in a wait-and-see
 stance.

 ``We decided that when and if the alert was given, we would commence protests.
 But we have to be careful in these things. We will look ridiculous in front of the
 government of Cuba and the world if we act too quickly,'' Saavedra said.

 ``If and when the time comes, we will do things by the law.''

 Representatives of different exile groups will meet today to decide what action to
 take.

 ``We are trying to find out what the legal implications and recourses are and what
 are the desires of the family, which is very important,'' said Jose Basulto, Brothers
 to the Rescue leader. ``We will support them however we can.''

 He is worried that the INS would take immediate steps to return Elian to his father
 in Cuba by having U.S. marshals forcibly remove the boy.

 But Perez, of the foundation, said she didn't think the government would act
 hastily.

 ``They could have done it from Day One,'' she said. ``I don't know if they are
 willing to pay the political price that that would carry -- especially in an election
 year.''

 The anti-embargo Cuban Committee for Democracy issued a news release late
 Tuesday saying the ``rule of law has prevailed in this case, and now we must
 respect that decision and begin to heal the damage caused by this conflict.''

 But Executive Director Elena Freyre took a cautious stance similar to that of the
 Cuban government.

 ``Even though the ruling has been issued, I don't think that it's imminent that Elian
 is going to be returned,'' Freyre said. ``[Attorney General] Janet Reno has always
 said that what she is not willing to do is to take the National Guard and grab that
 kid from his house.''

 Freyre hoped that a more human approach could be taken.

 ``What needs to happen now is for the father to come. He has to come to the
 United States and say, `I want my kid. Give me my kid.' He's said it: Once he
 knows that he can get his child, he'll come.

 ``At least that would not be so traumatic for the child.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald