BY SARA OLKON

 More than half of the 23 Miami-Dade city leaders who county Mayor Alex Penelas
 said supported his call for due process for Elian Gonzalez sought to distance
 themselves Thursday from his highly controversial remarks about the federal
 government's handling of the Cuban boy's case.

 During a Wednesday press conference attended by several of the mayors, Penelas
 said President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno were ``provoking'' civil
 unrest here and promised to withhold police assistance from federal authorities
 removing Elian from the home of his Miami relatives.

 ``If I had made it there, I would have turned around and left,'' said Miami Springs
 Mayor John Cavalier, one of the city leaders who, according to a Penelas press
 release, believes the federal government should not repatriate Elian until his legal
 appeals have been exhausted.

 ``I don't agree with what was said there,'' Cavalier continued. ``It was inviting civil
 disturbances by the way things were represented. The law is the law and you
 have to be responsible to it.''

 Surfside Mayor Paul Novack said he attended the press conference simply to call
 for calm.

 `NOT APPROPRIATE'

 ``Blaming the federal government is not appropriate,'' he said. ``Local government
 does have a responsibility to uphold civil order. . .  I don't think any public official
 should be exacerbating tension. I was there to reduce tension.''

 In addition to distancing themselves from Penelas' comments, some officials
 questioned how their names made it into the release.

 ``They were not authorized to use my name, and they shouldn't have,'' said Coral
 Gables Mayor Raul Valdes-Fauli, who said he did not expressly tell Penelas to
 exclude him.

 ``If you don't authorize something, you presume it's not going to be used,'' he
 said.

 Homestead Mayor Steve Shiver said when he spoke to Penelas, the issue of a
 ``solidarity list'' never came up.

 ``I was asked if I would consider writing a letter of support, and I didn't answer,'' he
 said.

 ``I would not support promoting civil unrest or defying any federal agencies or
 laws. Defying the federal government will only jeopardize the community's
 relationship with them. This whole thing is getting completely out of hand.''

 `FAIR' CRITICISM

 Penelas, who has taken a lot of flak for his words, said Thursday that criticism
 from his fellow mayors was ``fair.'' But, he added, he was speaking from his ``own
 strong conviction'' when he said he would hold the Clinton administration
 responsible for unrest and he would not authorize the use of county resources for
 removing Elian from his family's Little Havana home.

 Moreover, he said the issue of police assistance only pertained to Miami Mayor
 Joe Carollo, who has said that local police should not be involved in taking the
 child.

 ``The main obligation of the Miami Police Department is the protection of life and
 property and to protect and safeguard the well-being of its residents, not to be
 enforcing federal policy or decisions,'' said Carollo Thursday. ``That is the
 obligation and responsibility of the federal government.''

 STRONG SUPPORTERS

 Besides Carollo, five other mayors came out in strong support of Penelas: Ignacio
 Diaz of North Bay Village, Philippe Derose of El Portal, Jose ``Pepe'' Diaz of
 Sweetwater, Rebeca Sosa of West Miami and Fatima Morejon of Hialeah
 Gardens.

 ``The community is being provoked, and I believe Janet Reno and the President
 are liable and responsible for any harm that comes to this community -- or to the
 [Gonzalez] family -- because of pressure applied to the situation,'' said
 Sweetwater's Diaz, who helped organize the press conference. ``If they don't give
 due process to this child, something that's given to the most heinous of criminals,
 it's a cop-out of the United States selling out a little boy because of dealings with
 Castro's communist regime.''

 Others, such as South Miami Mayor Julio Robaina, say they don't support
 everything Penelas said.

 ``I'm not in agreement with attacking our president, the federal government, and
 on how to use our police department,'' he said. ``I was there to ask the people to
 be civil in all communities regardless of the verdict and to allow the federal
 government appeal process to be fully exhausted.''

 Herald staff writers Elysa Batista, Tyler Bridges, Mireidy Fernandez, Tere
 Figueras, Paola Iuspa, Ivette M. Lee, Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, Sandra Marquez
 Garcia, Draeger Martinez, Judy Odierna, Walter Pacheco, Tanya Somaroo and
 Annie Vazquez contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald