CORAL GABLES, Fla. - (AP) - In ''The Boy of the Dolphins,'' a Cuban painter
 depicts Elian Gonzalez swaddled, like the baby Moses, in a blue blanket and
 nestled inside an inner tube. Three dolphins surround him as the hand of God
 manipulates puppet strings that lead the child away from a red background
 symbolizing communism.

 The painting is based on a story, reportedly told by Elian, that dolphins swam
 around his inner tube and protected him while he drifted for two days in the waters
 off the coast of Fort Lauderdale.

 ''I ... think that it has been a miracle from God that this boy was rescued alive and
 that dolphins, like Elian himself says, helped the situation,'' artist Alexis Blanco
 said. ''Elian, for me, is like a messenger that announces the end of the
 communist dictatorship (in Cuba).''

 Talk of fate and destiny swirls around the 6-year-old Cuban boy who has been
 embroiled in an international custody battle that unfolds daily before television
 cameras.

 Some Cuban Americans revere him as a divine messenger, believing it is God's
 plan for Elian to remain in the United States. At least one sociologist contends
 that Elian's divine image is simply political manipulation by those who want to
 keep him in Miami.

 The circumstances surrounding Elian's sea voyage provoke talk of divine
 intervention. His mother set her only son adrift to save him while she was among
 11 refugees who drowned. Elian was found on Thanksgiving by two fishermen.

 One of them, Donato Dalrymple, thinks fate took him to the sea that day, since it
 was his first time fishing. Dalrymple, who saw mahi mahi … not porpoises -- near
 Elian nonetheless believes the dolphin story.

 ''I would like to believe that God used the dolphins as an instrument to keep him
 safe in that water,'' Dalrymple said.

 Elian also spoke of seeing an angel out at sea, according to Dalrymple and
 Robert Curbelo, a friend of the Gonzalez family.

 ''I believe that the guardian angel and God were helping him through those rough
 times when he was by himself,'' Curbelo said. ''Little boys who are 6 years old
 don't lie and they don't invent things like that. There are too many factors here not
 to believe.''

 One unconfirmed story circulating through Miami's Cuban community has Cuban
 President Fidel Castro consulting a santero, a priest in the Afro-Cuban religion
 Santeria, which melds elements of Catholicism and West African spiritualism and
 sometimes calls for animal sacrifices. The santero told Castro his future depends
 on Elian, and if the child stays in Florida, Castro's regime will fall. If Elian returns
 to Cuba, the story goes, Castro will remain in power forever.

 ''I think that's why Castro's making such a big deal about one little boy when he's
 let thousands die in the water,'' Curbelo said.

 Elian is pictured holding a baby Jesus in one poster that is often seen at
 demonstrations and news conferences.

 ''Elian is a prodigy of God,'' said 78-year-old Mariana Suarez, who joined the
 demonstration last week outside the home where Elian met with his Cuban
 grandmothers. ''God brought him to this country. I think he should stay here.''

 Many Cuban Americans are eager to believe the mystical aspects of the Elian
 saga because they have been waiting more than 40 years for an end to Fidel
 Castro's regime, said Max Castro, a sociologist and researcher at the University
 of Miami's North-South Center.

 ''They're looking for divine intervention. This could be an announcement, some
 kind of sign,'' he said. ''It's an episode of collective delusion ... but there's a real
 belief in some people.''
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald