By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

          WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 -- The Justice Department is reviewing
          whether alcohol-related driving violations or other actions by the
          relatives of a 6-year-old Cuban boy in Miami warrant moving the child to
          a different temporary custodian.

          "That matter is under review," Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder
          Jr. said today when asked about the violations. "We will look at that, try
          to make some kind of factual determination and then decide what steps,
          if any, need to be taken."

          The department is also still considering a request last week from the
          father of the boy, Elián González, to have temporary custody shifted from
          Elián's great-uncle Lázaro González to another great-uncle in Miami,
          Manolo González.

          The father, Juan Miguel González, who lives in Cuba and is seeking to
          have his son returned, objected to reporters' access to Elián permitted by
          Lázaro González's and to the treatment of Elián by psychologists selected
          by that family.

          A Justice official, who requested anonymity, said the department had the
          authority, if necessary, to transfer temporary custody to someone other
          than Lázaro González. Elián was placed in his care after being found
          clinging to an inner tube in the Atlantic last Thanksgiving after his mother
          and 10 others fleeing Cuba drowned when their boat sank.

          The Immigration and Naturalization Service ruled in favor of the father's
          request that the boy be returned to him in Cuba, but thr decision was
          delayed while the Miami relatives press a federal court case to keep him
          in this country.

                     Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company