From staff and wire reports

                  HAVANA (CNN) -- A Cuban official said on Sunday that his government
                  is talking to the U.S. government about the fate of 6-year-old Elian
                  Gonzalez, but reports from the United States conflicted on whether such
                  talks are under way.

                  "We are in direct talks with the U.S. -- the Interests Section here in
                  Havana," said Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly,
                  on "Fox News Sunday." "And we have, since the very beginning, been in
                  touch."

                  A U.S. government source familiar with Elian's case also said talks were
                  under way.

                  But another official, National Security Council spokesman David Leavy, said
                  on Sunday: "We are not in negotiations with them."

                  Debate over Elian's father coming to U.S.

                  According to a Cuban official who asked not to be identified, the alleged
                  discussions between the U.S. and Cuban governments centered on whether
                  the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, could travel to the United States to
                  pick up his son.

                  Elian was found floating on inner tube off the Florida coast on November
                  25. His mother and nine other Cubans drowned when their boat capsized as
                  they tried to make it to the Florida coast. Two adults also survived.

                  Elian has been staying with relatives in Miami who are fighting to keep him in
                  the United States. The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service initially
                  ordered Elian returned to his father by January 14, but later postponed the
                  order to give the child's family time to take the decision to federal court.

                  Some members of Florida's Cuban exile community have called for Elian's
                  father to travel to the United States to plead his case, but Alarcon said Rep.
                  Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R- Florida, had threatened to subpoena Gonzalez if he
                  travels to Miami.

                  "There is a specific threat in that regard by Congressman Diaz-Balart,"
                  Alarcon told CNN. "There are threats against him that why we have gotten
                  the advice by many lawyers, including U.S. officials, that he should not go to
                  that country."

                  But Alarcon said, ultimately, the decision is up to Gonzalez.

                  "He is a free person," Alarcon said from Havana. "He can travel there or
                  elsewhere, as he wishes. He or any member of his family can do that."

                  Speaking on CNN's Late Edition, Diaz-Balart said he did not have the
                  authority to subpoena Gonzalez. But he said Gonzalez should come to the
                  United States.

                  "The father needs to be heard in freedom. He has to come here,"
                  Diaz-Balart said. But, he said, even if Gonzalez does travel to the U.S., it
                  should not be seen as a guarantee that Elian would return to Cuba.

                  "A court has to make that decision," he said.

                  No word on role for grandmothers

                  The boy's two grandmothers, who live in Cuba, have both said they are
                  willing to travel to the United States in place of the father, Alarcon said.

                  Elian's paternal grandmother, Mariade la Quintana, told reporters, "If I have
                  to go there to fetch him, I'll go and get him back."

                  But a Cuban official said his country had not talked to U.S. officials about a
                  role for the grandmothers in the dispute over Elian, as had been earlier
                  reported.

                  If any of the boy's family members in Cuba ask for permission to travel to
                  the United States, the Clinton administration "would certainly expedite those
                  requests," said Leavy. But, he said no requests have been received.

                   Alarcon derides plans to make Elian a U.S. citizen

                   Asked about a push in Congress togrant Elian U.S. citizenship, Alarcon said,
                   "You cannot impose citizenship upon anybody. This individual, this 6-year-old
                   boy, has not requested anything and he cannot, legally speaking."

                  House Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas and several Republican members
                  of Congress from Florida plan to introduce legislation when Congress reconvenes
                  January 24 that grants U.S. citizenship to Elian.

                  "As a member of the House leadership, I am fully supportive of doing what
                  is in the best interests of young Elian and moving this bill through Congress
                  when we return," DeLay said Friday.

                  Others backing citizenship for Elian include Diaz-Balhart, GOP Rep. Bill
                  McCollum, a member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, and
                  Republican Sen. Connie Mack, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Rep. Ileana
                  Ros-Lehtinen, all from Florida.

                  Alarcon said U.S. citizenship would be another loss for Elian. He said Elian
                  has been deprived of his father and his four grandparents. He said taking
                  away his nationality, "is going too far, really."

                  Havana quiet on Sunday

                  The streets of Havana were calm on Sunday following two days of protests
                  that brought out tens of thousands to demand that Elian be returned to Cuba.

                  On Saturday, the day after thousands of mothers marched in the capital of
                  the Caribbean island nation, thousands more gathered to urge that Elian be
                  allowed to return home.

                  Cuban-Americans in Miami also have staged rallies, lobbying for Elian to be
                  kept in the United States. They called a moratorium on protests after the
                  INS deadline was postponed.

                  Lawyers representing the boy's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, are expected
                  to ask a federal court to grant a political asylum hearing for Elian on
                  Tuesday. The lawyers contend the child has been denied his constitutional
                  right of due process.

                  White House correspondent Kelly Wallace, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed
                                          to this report.