BY KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO

 Elián González's stay in the United States lasted just seven months, but his
 impact on Miami-Dade's power structure was immense.

 Gone are Miami's city manager and the police chief he refused to fire.

 Fortified -- locally at least -- are the careers of Miami Mayor Joe Carollo and
 Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas among Cuban-Americans who did not want to
 see the boy returned to Cuba.

 Weakened is the mayors' appeal among non-Hispanics.

 And facing a top-to-bottom reorganization is the county Community Relations
 Board, a once-powerful group that found itself impotent in its goal to unify a
 community divided over Elián.

 ``The situation is ugly, said Sergio Bendixen, president of the public opinion
 research firm Hispanic Trends.

 ``Miami as a community is in great danger and I hope leadership at all levels --
 political, civic, and religious -- will address it and not just hope time will heal.
 Because it won't.

 DRASTIC DIVISIONS

 Polls showed that the Elián case created drastic divisions among the
 community's major ethnic groups. Cuban Americans and some other Hispanics
 said they wanted Elián to stay with his exile Miami relatives rather than return to
 Communist Cuba with his father. Blacks felt strongly that the boy belonged with
 his father and most white non-Hispanics agreed.

 LOCAL IMACT

 The divisions played out in local politics.

 Penelas won points among the Hispanic electorate when he defiantly warned
 President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno in a news conference that
 they would be held responsible if any blood was shed in the aftermath of the
 taking of Elián from his Miami family's home.

 Penelas and Carollo said their local police departments would not assist in aiding
 federal agents if they came to Miami to remove Elián. Although Penelas clarified
 that police would keep the peace, his statement angered many non-Hispanics,
 who interpreted it to mean police would not raise a hand to quell Elián protests.

 POINTS FOR PENELAS

 Penelas won approval for his actions among Hispanics, who make up 44 percent
 of county voters. White non-Hispanics make up 33 percent, blacks 20 percent.

 So did Carollo, whose city of Miami electorate is 54 percent Hispanic, with 19
 percent of city voters classified as white non-Hispanic and 24 percent as black.

 ``Both Penelas and Carollo have helped themselves with the Cuban base, and
 both of them have at least the potential of having hurt themselves with Anglos and
 blacks, said Bendixen, who believes the issue will nevertheless not be a political
 liability in the county and city.

 THE FUTURE

 But Penelas, viewed as an up-and-comer in national Democratic circles, likely
 would be confronted with the Elián issue in a run for higher office.

 ``The perception that his statements basically led people to believe that in this
 particular instance he was not going to follow the law, is a statement he will have
 to explain as he continues with his political career, Bendixen said. ``Time will tell.

 MIAMI REACTION

 In the city of Miami, the Easter Saturday extraction of Elián by heavily armed
 federal agents provoked a more immediate political reaction.

 Carollo, angered that Police Chief William O'Brien didn't alert him to the predawn
 raid, made public statements that he should be fired.

 Carollo's hand-picked City Manager, Donald Warshaw -- the only one with
 authority to fire the chief -- refused. Carollo fired Warshaw, citing management
 problems. O'Brien resigned the next day.

 Both white non-Hispanic officials were replaced with Cuban Americans.

 The ethnic divisions became the most intense in the aftermath of the predawn
 seizure of Elián.

 HEALING BEGINS

 Traditional power groups, such as the Non-Group of elite civic leaders, and the
 Miami-Dade Community Relations Board, individually met to work toward healing.

 Bridging the divides proved to be an impossible task for the CRB, which suffered
 its own infighting over Elián.

 ``The community was split on Elián. So was the CRB, chairman Sang Whang
 said. ``And CRB members are not supposed to maintain neutrality. So it's very
 difficult for me to maintain peace within the CRB.

 The ineffectiveness of the CRB, whose mission is to promote harmony among
 ethnic groups, prompted Penelas to urge a reorganization.

 County Manager Merrett Stierheim has requested $300,000 for six new CRB
 positions,including a full-time director.

 ``Nobody in this town was without trauma: Cuban-American, Haitian, Anglo,
 African-American -- everybody had anger, remorse, pain, Steirheim said. ``My
 hope is that it was cathartic. The residue from Elián will be important for many,
 many years. We have a lot of wounds to heal.

 Despite the legacy of disharmony left in the crisis' aftermath, the issue became a
 rare unifying force among Cuban exiles, crossing generations and partisan
 ideology.

 Agustín ``Gus García, vice chairman for outreach of Miami-Dade's Democratic
 Party, believes the creation of a more-unified Cuban-American identity was a
 positive fallout of Elián's seven-month stay.

 PARTY SWITCH

 García protested the Clinton administration decision to return Elián to his father --
 and was tear-gassed by federal agents outside the home of Elián's Miami
 relatives the day the child was removed.

 Since that day, 3,185 Democrats in Miami-Dade switched to another party
 affiliation -- 71 percent of them to the GOP. During the same period, 659 left the
 Republican Party.

 García kept his Democratic Party ties.

 ``With Elián, we may have lost a battle, but we have won an issue in the war,
 García said.

 ``Thousands of our children came back and stood with their fathers. Cuban
 Americans who could hardly speak Spanish were standing there and feeling the
 pride of their community. And that unification is a miracle.