MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - (AP) - The host of the reunion between Elian
 Gonzalez and his Cuban grandmothers said today she wasn't sure ''any
 real good'' came of it because of the political agendas of others, citing
 the Cuban government.

 With a backdrop of 200 chanting, flag-waving demonstrators nearby, the
 trembling grandmothers brought the 6-year-old shipwreck survivor a photo
 album filled with pictures of his family and friends back in Cuba, and the
 three played with an Etch A Sketch and stuffed animals.

 ''I'm not sure any real good came from this meeting other than perhaps some
 fears were dispelled,'' Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, who welcomed her guests
 and saw them off but didn't attend the meeting, told NBC's ''Thursday'' show.

 She added: ''I believe that there are people with political agendas that take
 the child as a pawn, and perhaps the grandmothers also.'' Asked to elaborate,
 she mentioned ''the Cuban government, who, I understand, has said we were
 not nice to the grandmothers, that we had spies. This is just not true.''

 The grandmothers, Mariela Quintana and Raquel Rodriguez, hugged and
 kissed the boy during Wednesday night's tense, 90-minute meeting ordered
 by the U.S. government.

 Then the women went back to Washington to state their case again in the
 international power struggle among Elian's relatives about where he should
 live. Elian's cousin Marisleysis Gonzalez and other Cuban-American relatives
 planned a competing lobbying trip to Washington today.

 The child's Miami relatives want him to stay here and grow up in the United
 States rather than in Fidel Castro-controlled Cuba. But his father and
 grandmothers hope to have him returned to Cuba.

 The Immigration and Naturalization Service is pressing to have him returned to
 Cuba, citing the father's right to custody, while the Cuban-American relatives
 are fighting in federal court and are backing efforts in Congress to make the
 boy a U.S. citizen.

 ''Tomorrow they're going to make me an American citizen,'' Elian said in an
 interview broadcast over the Spanish-language Radio Mambi after the reunion.

 The grandmothers did not comment as they left the meeting.

 Sister O'Laughlin, who handled the summit at her ''neutral site'' home, said earlier
 that both sides were so mistrustful that she had to show them there was no
 chance Elian could be snatched away.

 She showed her Cuban visitors that ''windows couldn't be opened, that doors
 couldn't be invaded, that helicopters could not land in fake grass, that there were
 no disappearing trap doors.''

 At one point, one of the grandmothers' cellular phone went off and was
 confiscated, Sister O'Laughlin said. It was unclear who was trying to call, but a
 letter issued Wednesday by the Cuban Communist Party from the boy's father
 and grandfathers in Cuba said they would call an hour into the meeting if they
 hadn't received a call from the grandmothers.

 Outside, the reunion was almost drowned out by about 200 chanting, flag-waving
 demonstrators. Some cheered and others booed as the grandmothers made their
 way inside.

 ''When Elian saw his grandmothers, they were elated,'' said Sister Leanore
 Esnard, who escorted Elian to the reunion.

 ''They picked him up. They hugged him. They were shaking a little bit. He was at
 ease although he did not speak much at that point. But they were thrilled. They
 just kept hugging him and kissing him,'' she said.

 As for Elian, it ''took him a little while to warm up, but after a little bit he became
 very animated,'' said Sister Peggy Albert, who also watched the reunion.

 The grandmothers wept after Elian walked out of the room, said Sister O'Laughlin,
 who monitored the meeting while the Miami relatives waited in the next room.

 The INS ordered the reunion, saying it had the authority to do so under the
 arrangement letting the boy stay in this country.

 Elian was found clinging to an inner tube off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving. He
 had left Cuba with his mother, who died along with her boyfriend and nine others
 when their boat capsized.

 The fight over where he should live had dominated headlines in Florida and Cuba.
 During the reunion, hundreds of farmers gathered in a Havana auditorium for the
 latest in a series of government-organized protests calling for the child's return.

 Castro's government has scheduled a much larger demonstration Friday, the
 anniversary of the birth of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.

 On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott indicated he had no solid plans
 for handling legislation to give Elian citizenship, removing the boy from the
 jurisdiction of the INS.

 President Clinton supported the grandmothers' cause, hinting he might veto
 citizenship legislation if it passes. And senators seeking Elian's return to Cuba
 suggested they might use delaying tactics to keep the Senate from debating the
 measure.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald