Grandmothers to Visit Lawmakers Here Today

                  By Sue Ann Pressley and Karen DeYoung
                  Washington Post Staff Writers

                  MIAMI, Jan. 24—The Cuban grandmothers of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez
                  arrived here this afternoon to see their grandson for the first time since he
                  was pulled from the sea on Thanksgiving Day. But after sitting at a south
                  Miami airport for more than four hours this afternoon, they took off again
                  without meeting the boy.

                  A day of confusion and rumors ended in dramatic fashion as Elian's
                  great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez--without the boy--raced to the Tamiami
                  Airport with television cameras in hot pursuit, only to see the plane taxi
                  down the runway as he pulled up to the terminal.

                  Bob Edgar, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches,
                  which sponsored the women's trip to this country, said after they departed
                  that the grandmothers were traveling to Washington, where meetings were
                  scheduled Tuesday with members of Congress.

                  The planned meeting with Elian fell apart in a dispute over where it would
                  take place, with the Miami Gonzalezes insisting that the grandmothers,
                  Mariela Gonzalez and Raquel Rodriguez, come to their turf in Little
                  Havana, and the women saying they wanted to meet their grandson alone,
                  on "neutral territory" at a location arranged by the Immigration and
                  Naturalization Service.

                  Edgar said last night that the women were not confident of "security
                  arrangements" in Little Havana. He said that the Miami relatives "did a
                  cynical thing in telling a little boy they were going to have a party" with his
                  grandmothers.

                  The rapid denouement came as hundreds of people, many of them Cuban
                  Americans carrying largely friendly placards, along with police and
                  reporters, had filled the streets this evening around Lazaro Gonzalez's Little
                  Havana house where the boy has been staying.

                  Throughout the afternoon, after the grandmothers' plane touched down at
                  about 3:45, INS attorneys had engaged in increasingly frantic telephone
                  calls with attorneys for the Miami family in search of a compromise.

                  As relatives carried covered dishes into the house for a "family reunion"
                  dinner with the grandmothers, Elian himself, freshly showered and dressed,
                  was sent out to make an appearance in the front yard. Family spokesmen
                  emerged to say rice and pork were on the table, and police tried to
                  disperse the crowds.

                  By the time it was announced that Lazaro Gonzalez, and his brother, Delfin
                  Gonzalez, were heading to the airport without the child to talk to the
                  grandmothers, the women apparently had already made their decision.

                  The latest twist in the long Elian saga came as Congress entered with fray
                  with the introduction of two bills to make the boy an instant U.S. citizen.
                  One of the bills could be acted upon as early as Wednesday in the Senate.
                  Although several historical figures have been made honorary citizens, Elian
                  would be the first person ever naturalized by an act of Congress. President
                  Clinton has not said whether he would sign such a bill, although White
                  House spokesman Joe Lockhart said today that Clinton did not think
                  Congress should be involved.

                  But the controversy appeared headed toward a largely partisan
                  showdown, and Republicans and Democrats returning from the long
                  holiday recess were expected to discuss Elian during party caucuses
                  scheduled for Tuesday.

                  Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Jose Serrano
                  (D-N.Y.)--both strong supporters of sending Elian back to Cuba--
                  planned to host the grandmothers in meetings here with congressional
                  colleagues.

                  Miami attorneys for the Gonzalez family, who sources said were acting on
                  instructions from family spokesman Armando Gutierrez, had insisted that
                  Elian's meeting with his grandmothers could only take place in Lazaro
                  Gonzalez's Little Havana home.

                  A U.S. government official said that the women had said "they would not
                  feel comfortable in that house," and that they considered the neighborhood,
                  where feeling is strong against Cuba's communist government, to be filled
                  with "animosity" toward them.

                  Elian has been staying with Lazaro Gonzalez since he was rescued from the
                  shipwreck in which his mother and nine others drowned while trying to
                  reach the United States. Although the INS ruled early this month that the
                  boy should be returned to his divorced Cuban father, the Miami relatives
                  have refused to relinquish him and have filed suit in state and federal court
                  to retain him in this country.

                  The Justice Department expects to respond this week to the federal
                  suit--in which Lazaro Gonzalez is seeking to force the INS to consider a
                  petition he has filed to give Elian political asylum.

                  The two grandmothers, flown from Cuba to New York by the NCC
                  Friday, visited Washington Saturday for a meeting with Attorney General
                  Janet Reno and INS Commissioner Doris Meissner. Following that
                  meeting, INS General Counsel Bo Cooper wrote to the Miami attorneys
                  saying that the grandmothers wanted "to meet with Elian in a neutral,
                  private setting during their brief stay in the United States," and would travel
                  to Miami "if their safety could be ensured."

                  "The grandmothers understand," Cooper wrote, "that their meeting would
                  only be a visit, and would not alter the present arrangements for Elian's
                  care."

                  The Miami attorneys replied with a publicly released letter inviting the
                  grandmothers to come to Little Havana at 6 p.m. for dinner where,
                  Gutierrez said, they could see "where he sleeps, to see where he lives."

                  That offer was unacceptable to the women who, an official in Washington
                  said, had no doubt Elian was being well cared for. "This is not a child
                  welfare inspection," the official said. "They want to visit their grandson."

                  The women left New York on a charter flight today in the expectation that
                  a compromise would be reached, officials in Washington said.

                  Pressley reported from Miami, DeYoung from Washington. Staff writer
                  Helen Dewar in Washington and special correspondent Catharine Skipp in
                  Miami contributed to this report.