'Neutral' site is suggested

 COMPILED BY MADELINE BARO

 The Miami relatives of Elian Gonzalez today offered to meet with the boy's father in a
 neutral place in Miami and said they would bring the boy along.

 In a letter addressed to a government-chosen psychiatrist and distributed this morning
 outside the Little Havana home of the Gonzalez family, the family said it was willing to
 meet Juan Miguel Gonzalez at the home of Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, the nun who earlier
 hosted a visit by Elian's grandmothers, or "any other neutral place in South Florida."

 That meeting could be "followed almost immediately by a meeting to include Elian,"
 the letter said.

 The relatives demanded assurances, however, that Elian would not be taken from
 them during the meeting.

 The U.S. government's handpicked team of mental-health experts failed Monday to
 win agreement from Elian Gonzalez's great-uncle on a willing hand-over of the boy
 to his waiting father, virtually ensuring that immigration authorities will formally order
 him -- as soon as today -- to surrender the 6-year-old.

 Lazaro Gonzalez's reluctance to cooperate with the government's plan for a transfer
 of custody at a neutral site set the stage for a flurry of desperate legal moves by his
 attorneys to block Elian's return to Cuba as federal officials try to bring down the
 curtain on the drawn-out custody drama.

 In short order, government officials say, they will issue a demand letter to Gonzalez
 with specific instructions on when and where to turn over the child. The government
 hopes the transfer will occur before the end of the week.

 The great-uncle's attorneys say they will respond by seeking an emergency order
 from a federal judge to bar the government from letting the father leave the United
 States with Elian until a court appeal is concluded. They will also attempt today
 to revive Gonzalez's custody petition in Miami-Dade family court, asking a judge
 to conduct a full hearing on the fitness of Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

 Complicating matters were unconfirmed news reports out of Cuba on Monday
 night indicating that Elian's father was prepared to fly to Miami to pick up his son,
 but only at a secure location such as Homestead Air Reserve Base. But a
 spokesman at the Cuban diplomatic mission in Washington suggested there was
 no such plan, saying ''conditions are not right'' for a turnover in Miami. U.S.
 officials said they thought a trip to Miami now was unlikely.

 The Miami relatives continued to insist Monday that any transfer take place at
 their Little Havana home, which is surrounded by protesters.

 That insistence killed any chance of an agreement during Monday evening's
 meeting between Lazaro Gonzalez and three mental-health experts appointed by
 the government to recommend a plan for a transfer that would cause as little
 trauma to Elian as possible.

 LOCATION CHANGE

 The meeting took place hours late after a last-minute change of location forced by
 Lazaro Gonzalez's refusal to leave the hospital where his daughter is being
 treated for stress and exhaustion. First scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Jackson
 Memorial Hospital, the meeting finally took place at Mercy Hospital at about 5
 p.m. after the government refused to postpone it.

 Lazaro Gonzalez was interviewed for about an hour by the three doctors, less
 than the three hours set aside for the meeting.

 Family spokesman Armando Gutierrez said Gonzalez's 21-year-old daughter,
 Marisleysis, who regards herself as Elian's surrogate mother, did not participate.
 Elian was in the hospital visiting Marisleysis, but he was not at the meeting
 either, Gutierrez said.

 In attendance were Lazaro Gonzalez, one of his attorneys, and several
 Immigration and Naturalization Service officials. The doctors were psychiatrists
 Dr. Jerry Wiener and Dr. Paulina F. Kernberg, and a psychologist, Dr. Lourdes
 Rigual-Lynch, all affiliated with top northeastern medical schools and hospitals.

 Manny Diaz, the Miami family lawyer who attended the meeting, said there was
 no clear outcome. Diaz said no further meetings have been scheduled with the
 INS.

 ''It was just a quick meeting to exchange ideas,'' Diaz said. ''There was just a lot
 of discussion about the welfare of the child, no specific conclusion.''

 DISAPPOINTED

 But a source familiar with the talks said government officials were disappointed by
 what they regard as Lazaro Gonzalez's stubborn refusal to discuss ways to
 transfer Elian to his father with a minimum of trauma.

 ''The government once again bent over backwards to accommodate the relatives
 by agreeing to move the meeting, but Lazaro remained very unwilling to discuss a
 neutral location for the transfer,'' a source familiar with the talks said. ''He was
 adamant it happen at his house.

 ''We sincerely believe that Elian needs to see his primary caregivers are
 supporting him in this, and they're just not willing to do it.''

 One government official said authorities would likely ask that Elian be brought to a
 neutral location in Florida to be turned over either to Juan Miguel or to a third
 party. A more remote possibility would be to ask the Miami relatives to bring him
 to his father, who flew to Washington, D.C., last week.

 If the great-uncle refuses to obey the government's instructions for a hand-over,
 U.S. immigration authorities have said they will seek a court order forcing him to
 surrender Elian. Continued defiance could mean criminal contempt of court
 charges and arrest.

 As a last resort, government officials say they are prepared to send in federal
 agents to take custody of the boy so he can be reunited with his father. The
 government has said the father is free to return to Cuba with Elian immediately
 upon regaining physical custody.

 ADDITIONAL VISAS?

 In Washington, meanwhile, the State Department indicated it might approve some
 of the additional 22 visas requested by the Cuban government as a ''support team''
 for Elian's father -- its condition for Juan Miguel Gonzalez's remaining in
 Washington while court appeals in the case are wound up.

 Attorney General Janet Reno was scheduled to meet today with Miami Mayor Joe
 Carollo and Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas who planned to plead for
 keeping Elian in the U.S. Carollo had said they would ask Reno to establish a
 ''transition period of about 30 days'' to lessen any risk of trauma to the boy.

 Even as the government and Lazaro Gonzalez haggled over the meeting Monday,
 it quickly became apparent that the relatives planned to continue to fight.

 ''We are actively considering several legal remedies to prevent removal of Elian to
 Cuba,'' said Kendall Coffey, one of the team's attorneys.

 On Monday, just minutes before deadline, the relatives' legal team filed legal
 arguments at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which will hear the
 family's challenge of a federal court ruling last month that upheld the government's
 authority to send Elian home.

 Barring an emergency order prohibiting the government from going ahead, Reno
 has said she is not bound to await the outcome of the appeal.

 This morning, the Miami relatives also filed a brief in Florida Family Court, asking
 Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Bailey for a full hearing to bar Elian's return to Cuba
 until his father's fitness is considered.

 The federal government asked the court to dismiss the request, saying it has no
 jurisdiction to overrule federal immigration law.

 Herald reporters Andres Viglucci, Sandra Marquez Garcia and Ana Acle, Herald
 staff translator Renato Perez, Herald writer Mireidy Fernandez, and Herald wire
 services contributed to this report.