BY JUAN O. TAMAYO AND JAY WEAVER
 

 U.S. diplomats in Havana have asked the Cuban government if it would be willing
 to give the father of Elian Gonzalez an exit permit so he can attend the child's
 upcoming INS hearing, U.S. officials said.

 The request made Monday by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana gave the
 Cubans no indication on how the INS would rule on who should speak for the
 6-year-old boy or the ultimate determination of his case, the officials said.

 But a trip to Miami would give Juan Miguel Gonzalez a strong role in his son's INS
 hearing, now set for Jan. 21, and perhaps quell the calls by
 many Cuban exiles that he prove he's not under Cuban government control in
 demanding Elian's return to Cuba.

 Another administration official said the father's presence in Miami might alleviate
 some of the political tension that had built up over the case. In addition, the
 official said, the father and the Miami relatives might be able to reach ``an
 amicable arrangement'' about the boy's future.

 The Cuban government did not immediately answer the U.S. request, U.S.
 officials said.

 Repeated Cuban government statements that Gonzalez would not come to Miami
 have fueled exile suspicions that President Fidel Castro fears that the 31-year-old
 national park employee would defect once here.

 Gonzalez himself has said he sees no reason to come, and that U.S. officials
 should simply return Elian to Cuba since he is the child's custodian. The boy's
 mother, stepfather and nine others drowned when their boat sank last month as
 they sought to flee to the United States.

 The U.S. request came three days after a U.S. immigration officer met for a
 second time with Gonzalez in the Havana home of a ``neutral'' foreign diplomat to
 determine whether the father really wants his 6-year-old son back in Cuba.

 The New Year's Eve meeting drew objection from lawyers for Elian's relatives in
 Miami, who said they should have been told in advance of the meeting and given
 the opportunity to participate. They said they learned of the meeting in a
 voice-mail message left by an INS official Jan. 1.

 Even if the second meeting was held in a ``safe house,'' the boy's father has no
 freedom to speak what's really on his mind, the attorneys said.

 ``The problem is, he has to leave the house,'' said Spencer Eig, the lead
 immigration attorney for the Miami relatives. ``Once he leaves the house, he's
 under duress.

 ``Juan Miguel Gonzalez is like a man with a gun to his head in Cuba,'' Eig added.
 ``He cannot speak from his heart.'' In Miami Monday, Elian prepared to enroll in
 the Lincoln-Marti Elementary School in Little Havana, and received his
 state-required immunizations.

 ``Each day he is here we count as a victory,'' said Armando Gutierrez, a
 spokesman for Elian's relatives in Miami. ``There's a fear that [immigration
 officials] could send him back at any time.''

 The meeting between Elian's father and an Immigration and Naturalization Service
 official was held in ``a neutral setting'' on New Year's Eve to give Gonzalez the
 chance to express himself freely, without fear of Cuban government pressures, a
 knowledgeable U.S. official said.

 The official denied a report that the government of the host diplomat had assured
 the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana the house was free of Cuban electronic
 eavesdropping devices, guaranteeing a measure of privacy for the meeting with
 Gonzalez.

 ``The site was chosen as a relaxed setting in which we could talk to the father
 about whether he really wants the kid back or in Miami, and there may be an
 assumption that the house was not bugged, but there were no guarantees,'' the
 official said.

 SINCERITY TEST

 Gonzalez was asked questions designed to test the sincerity of his request for
 Elian's return, but was not asked directly whether Cuban government officials had
 pressured him into any statements.

 INS officials said Monday that Gonzalez has provided all the information he needs
 for the agency to make a decision in the case.

 INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said the second meeting at ``the private
 residence of an international diplomat'' was designed to obtain ``additional
 information'' from Gonzalez, a national park employee who had first met with U.S.
 officials in his Cardenas home before Christmas.

 Since Elian was rescued by fishermen from an inner tube on Thanksgiving day
 after his mother and 10 others lost their lives in a smuggling boat trip, Gonzalez
 has insisted that as the surviving biological parent he has sole right to his son.
 But the boy's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez and many others in Miami's Cuban
 exile community say the father is under the sway of President Fidel Castro's
 propaganda machinery.

 Castro has turned Elian's return into a national campaign, charging that he was
 ``kidnapped'' by his mother and taken ``hostage'' by the U.S. government.

 Elian awaits a critical INS inspection hearing on Jan. 21, when officials will
 determine whether he can be allowed into the United States beyond his current
 temporary status.

 Monday, Eig released the text of a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and INS
 Commissioner Doris Meissner pleading that the boy be allowed to stay in Miami.

 In its letter to Reno, the boy's legal team urged INS to extend his parole into the
 United States indefinitely -- knowing that would enable Elian to apply for
 permanent residency under the Cuban Adjustment Act.

 HEARING SOUGHT

 His five attorneys also lobbied Reno to hold Elian's asylum hearing soon after his
 inspection.

 ``This country must ensure that Elian is not forcibly returned to a country where
 his freedom will be threatened,'' the letter read.

 Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches, comprising Protestant and
 Orthodox denominations, met with Elian's father in his Cardenas home to put
 pressure on U.S. officials to release him.

 The Rev. Joan Campbell and the Rev. Oscar Bolioli told him over lunch that they
 are trying to work with the Cuban Council of Churches toward that goal.

 ``The whole point is to keep him from being used as a back-and-forth chip for
 competing political claims,'' said Roy Lloyd, a spokesman for the National Council
 of Churches.

 Campbell and Bolioli also plan to meet with the president of Cuban National
 Assembly, Ricardo Alarcon, to talk about the boy's release before they return to
 the United States on Thursday.

 Herald staff writer Frank Davies contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald