COMPILED BY MADELINE BARO DIAZ
 Online News Reporter

 A federal appeals judge has issued a temporary stay preventing Elian Gonzalez from
 being taken out of the country, although he could still be handed over to his father.

 Attorneys for Lazaro Gonzalez, Elian's great uncle, had filed an emergency motion
 in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta asking for an injunction that
 would prevent Juan Miguel Gonzalez, the boy's father, from taking Elian out of the
 country before the court hears the family's pending appeal.

 This afternoon, one judge from the court's three-judge panel issued a temporary
 stay. It gives the government until tomorrow morning to respond in court. Even if
 the family wins the stay to keep Elian in the country, however, that does not prevent
 the boy's transfer from his Miami family to his father, who is staying in Washington, D.C.

 Lazaro Gonzalez is appealing a federal judge's ruling last month that upheld the
 government's authority to return Elian to his father. Without an injunction, Reno
 retains the power to transfer custody to Juan Miguel Gonzalez at a moment's
 notice while the appeal is pending.

 Earlier today, a Florida Family Court judge rebuffed the family's last-ditch request
 to prevent the INS from taking the boy. Judge Jennifer D. Bailey said she had no
 jurisdiction in the matter.

 Meanwhile, the Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez and the U.S. government
 continued their stare-down today, with the Miami family ignoring an afternoon
 deadline and seeking a court order to keep the boy in the country.

 Lazaro Gonzalez, the great uncle who has cared for Elian since he was found
 clinging to an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day, had been ordered to deliver Elian
 to Opa-Locka Airport at 2 p.m. today.

 Elian remained at the Gonzalez family's Little Havana home as the deadline came
 and went. Outside, the throng of protesters supporting keeping the boy with the
 Miami family grew to more than 1,000 with celebrities like Gloria Estefan and
 Andy Garcia making appearances.

 Gregory Craig, an attorney for Juan Miguel Gonzalez, blasted Lazaro Gonzalez
 in an afternoon news conference.

 "Today, Lazaro Gonzalez defied the nation's chief law enforcement officers and
 publicly and belligerently refused to turn Elian over to his father," Craig said.
 "Lazaro Gonzalez and those who assist him now are in violation not only of
 federal law but also of state law. Elian Gonzalez is being held unlawfully in Miami
 against his father's wishes.''

 Despite the deadline, Attorney General Janet Reno said that the Justice
 Department would not immediately swoop in and take the boy, as his relatives
 feared.

 "We have the authority to take action,'' Reno said. "But responsible authority
 means not only knowing when to take action, but how and when to take that
 action.''

 It was not immediately clear exactly what kind of action the government would
 take to transfer custody of the boy to his father.

 In response to Reno's offer to set up a meeting between Juan Miguel and Lazaro
 Gonzalez, Armando Gutierrez, spokesman for the Miami relatives, said any
 meeting should include the whole family.

 He said there was a concern that a meeting could deteriorate into a finger-pointing
 session.

 "They don't think it's going to work. They think it's going to become 'You said on
 Nightline you wanted to kill me'," Gutierrez said, referring to comments made by
 Juan Miguel on the news show months ago.

 This morning, a videotape that was created by the family and the boy after last
 night's meeting was shown on Univision. In the video, Elian says that he does not
 want to go to Cuba and he asks his father to stay in the United States.

 As the crowd of chanting, praying, Cuban flag-waving supporters grew outside the
 Gonzalez home, Lazaro Gonzalez came out and asked for peaceful protests.

 "We are going to make an example,'' Gonzalez said. "We are exiles and we
 respect authority.''

 Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas and Miami mayor Joe Carollo also addressed
 the crowd and asked for calm. They were still hopeful that a meeting could be
 arranged between the divided Gonzalezes.

 "If there's any kind of disturbance today in Miami, Elian would lose, Miami would
 lose and America would lose,'' Carollo said. "The only winner would be Fidel
 Castro.''

 Reno had flown to Miami on Wednesday in a bold move to break open the
 impasse over Elian's fate. She met for two hours with Lazaro Gonzalez's family at
 the home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the nun who hosted a reunion between the
 boy and his grandmothers in January.

 Late last night, the Justice Department faxed a letter to the Gonzalez family
 instructing them to accompany Elian to the Opa-Locka Airport this afternoon.

 The letter -- a legally binding federal order -- outlined two options for family
 members: boarding the government plane with Elian to join his father in
 Washington or turning the boy over to an INS official who would deliver him to his
 father.

 Herald staff writer Sandra Marquez Garcia and Herald wire services contributed to
 this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald