ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND JAY WEAVER

 U.S. officials Thursday delivered an ultimatum to the Miami relatives of Elian
 Gonzalez that could bring the custody dispute over the boy to a quick end by
 forcing the family's lawyers to exhaust their legal options right away.

In a letter to the relatives' lawyers, the Department of Justice gave the family
 until noon today to agree to a speedy appeal of the federal court ruling that
 upheld Attorney General Janet Reno's decision to return the boy to Cuba.
 That would wrap up the appeal within three weeks, as opposed to several
 months under the usual process.

 Underlying the government's gambit is a presumption that the 11th Circuit
 Court of Appeals in Atlanta will uphold U.S. District Judge K. Michael
 Moore's ruling Tuesday that cleared the way for Reno to reunite Elian
 with his father in Cuba. The Miami relatives immediately filed a formal
 notice of their intention to appeal Moore's ruling.

 If the family does not agree to an expedited appeal, the letter says, the
 Immigration and Naturalization Service will move to carry out its decision.
 That could include revocation of the boy's temporary parole, followed by a
 formal demand that he be turned over to the INS for the trip to Cuba. Reno
 has said Moore's order is all the INS legally needs to remove the boy.

 USE OF FORCE

 Government officials say using force to take the 6-year-old is only a last
 resort. They hope the Miami relatives, faced with the end of their legal
 options, will comply and voluntarily turn over the boy.

 One of the relatives' attorneys said Thursday evening the legal team had just
 received the letter and had not had a chance yet to consider it.

 ``I'm going to discuss it with the team and will come to a conclusion whether
 it's acceptable or not,'' the lawyer said, asking that his name not be published
 because of the sensitivity of negotiations with the government. ``We are
 weighing our options.''

 The letter from the Office of Immigration Litigation, a branch of the Justice
 Department, proposes that the government and the relatives join in a request to
 the appellate court that it expedite the Miami family's appeal of Moore's order, the
 lawyer said. Such requests are typically granted.

 If the relatives lose the appeal, they would agree to turn over Elian promptly to the
 INS. Should they choose to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, the
 relatives' lawyers would have to ask the high court for an emergency appeal,
 which would be rapidly concluded.

 The lawyers' goal in court has been to win a political asylum hearing for Elian,
 who lost his mother in a boat journey from Cuba to Florida. But his Cuban father,
 Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has said repeatedly that he wants his son returned to
 Cuba.

 Justice Department officials have been struggling with how best to carry out the
 decision to return Elian home without causing undue trauma to the boy or
 sparking angry demonstrations in Miami. By allowing an appeal to go forward, the
 government is hoping to defuse tensions by satisfying the Miami relatives' and
 Cuban exile leaders' demands for a fair hearing of the case.

 MOVING QUICKLY

 Three days after Moore issued his ruling, Reno said in a morning news briefing
 that she intended to move quickly to end the battle over Elian's fate.

 ``The Justice Department wants to follow the court's admonition that we not delay
 the opportunity for this little boy to be with his father,'' Reno said, declining to
 reveal any strategy. ``You take each day and try to figure out, based on new
 developments, how the matter can be resolved promptly, fairly and in an orderly
 way.''

 But one option that government officials say is not under active consideration is
 forcibly removing Elian from the Little Havana home of his great-uncle, Lazaro
 Gonzalez.

 DISSENSION

 Two officials say the issue of forcible removal, however, has caused dissension
 between Reno and the U.S. Attorney in Miami, Tom Scott. According to the
 officials, Scott was asked to prepare a plan listing several options for carrying out
 the boy's return to Cuba. Though Scott was instructed to include a forcible
 removal plan as a last resort, he has balked at doing so, raising concerns that it
 could prompt violent protests in Miami.

 A spokeswoman for Scott said he would decline to comment.

 The government's letter came after weeks of behind-the-scenes talks between
 Justice officials and the Miami relatives' lawyers that failed to lead to a
 compromise. The dispute has been in the international spotlight almost since
 Thanksgiving Day, when Elian was rescued in an inner tube off Fort Lauderdale.

 His Miami relatives filed asylum applications on the boy's behalf, but the INS
 turned down the requests after Elian's father asked the agency to withdraw them.
 INS officials ruled that only the father can represent the boy's interests. That
 decision led to the battle in federal court.

 The Miami family has also sought support in Washington.

 On Thursday, the family's supporters continued to try to forestall any INS action.
 In response to a request by Florida's Republican Sen. Connie Mack, Sen.
 Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee
 chairman on Immigration, asked the INS for a full report on the case.

 When a report is requested in a typical case, the INS doesn't take any action
 until Congress acts or until the end of the Congressional session. An INS
 spokeswoman said the agency was evaluating Abraham's letter, but noted that
 such requests are usually made in removal proceedings, not a case such as the
 Gonzalez controversy.

 Herald staff writer Frank Davies also contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald