BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI AND SANDRA MARQUEZ GARCIA

 Elian Gonzalez's two grandmothers in Cuba received visas on Thursday to travel
 to the United States and are expected to fly to New York today, although the
 precise purpose of their trip is unclear, U.S. officials said.

 Clinton administration officials were hopeful that their arrival might provide the first
 breakthrough in the Gonzalez family impasse over custody of the child.

 But the impending trip -- arranged by the National Council of Churches, a
 Protestant and Orthodox group that has tried to mediate the custody dispute --
 apparently took both U.S. officials and Elian's Miami relatives by surprise.

 The boy's Miami family members and their attorneys said they would welcome a
 visit from the women, provided they are not accompanied by National Council
 members or Cuban agents. Elian's cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, said she had
 informed him that his grandmothers were on the way.

 But Spencer Eig, one of the family's lawyers, made it clear that their arrival would
 not mean that Elian's return to his father in Cuba is imminent. The family on
 Wednesday sued the federal government to block Elian's return, and he
 contended the issue can now only be decided in court.

 ``It is not going to be decided by any single member of the family,'' Eig said. ``Not
 only would we not think that it is in Elian's best interest -- it would be illegal.''

 Both grandmothers, Raquel Rodriguez and Mariela Quintana, have previously
 expressed a willingness to come to Miami, but only for as long as it would take to
 pick up the boy and take him back to Cuba.

 Nothing like that appeared to be in the works Thursday, however.

 U.S. officials and a Cuban government spokesman in Washington, D.C., said
 they didn't know whether the grandmothers hope to see Elian or his relatives. Nor
 did they know why the pair is traveling to New York instead of Miami, although
 some speculated they may be concerned about a possible hostile reception here
 from Cuban exiles.

 The National Council of Churches, which groups some 50 million churchgoers in
 the United States and has long been known for its involvement in civil-rights
 causes, sent a delegation to meet with the boy's father in Cuba earlier this month.

 Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian's father, designated the council to bring the boy
 back to Cuba, but its offer to help was rebuffed by his Miami relatives.

 A plane chartered by the church council left New York's Kennedy airport Thursday
 afternoon and arrived at Jose Marti International Airport in Havana in the evening.
 The foreign press was not allowed access to the passengers.

 The plane left Jose Marti airport at 9:30 p.m. without the grandmothers, but it was
 unclear whether that would have any effect on their travel plans.

 U.S. PERMISSION

 The council has open-ended permission from the U.S. government for
 humanitarian missions to the island. Late Thursday, the council confirmed the trip
 was led by the Rev. Bob Edgar, the group's new general secretary and a former
 Pennsylvania congressman. He was accompanied by his predecessor, the Rev.
 Joan Brown Campbell, and the group's director for Latin America and the
 Caribbean, the Rev. Oscar Bolioli.

 Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,
 said the delegation was to meet in Cuba with the grandmothers. A U.S. official
 said council members are scheduled to accompany the grandmothers when they
 fly to New York.

 Sources familiar with the charter arrangements said the plane is a six-seat
 corporate jet. Current plans are for the plane to fly back to New York today,
 although both the date and destination could change at the last minute.

 A U.S. official said the idea of having the women pick up Elian has been ``floating
 around for some time, but it was the Cuban Council of Churches that made the
 proposal official by asking the Cuban government and the U.S. Interests Section
 in Havana to issue visas to the two women.

 The grandmothers did not appear in person at the U.S. Interests Section to pick
 up their visas. Cuban foreign ministry officials delivered the passports and visa
 applications to the section, and returned them with visas to the grandmothers.

 BROTONS' MOTHER

 Rodriguez is the mother of Elizabeth Brotons, Elian's mother, who died along with
 10 others on the ill-fated sea voyage that brought the boy to Miami. Quintana is
 Juan Miguel Gonzalez's mother.

 In an interview with the Cuban press earlier this month, Rodriguez castigated
 Cuban exiles for arguing that Elian should stay in Miami to honor the wishes of
 his mother.

 ``That is a lot of lies,'' Rodriguez was quoted as saying. ``You can tell that none of
 them ever knew her. I, who was her mother and knew her better than anyone, am
 convinced that after this tragedy, her last wish would have been been that the boy
 be by the side of his father and his grandparents.''

 Herald staff writers Alfonso Chardy, Juan O. Tamayo, Carol Rosenberg and a staff
 writer in Havana, and Herald writer Mireidy Fernandez contributed to this report.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald