MIAMI (CNN) -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service says it has
                  made no final decision in the custody case of 6- year-old Cuban Elian
                  Gonzalez, but one of the largest anti- Castro groups in Miami is calling on all
                  Cuban exiles to "be on the alert for the possible imminent deportation to
                  Cuba of the child."

                  Since he was plucked from the waters off Florida six weeks ago, the 6-year-old boy has
                  been the focus of a bitter custody dispute between his father in Cuba and his great- uncle
                  and other Cuban exiles in Florida.

                  Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Democracy Movement exile group, on Tuesday urged
                  truckers, motorcycle groups and other demonstrators to show up at the Claude
                  Pepper Federal Building in downtown Miami on Thursday at noon to protest.

                  "We call on all affiliated truckers and independents ... to prepare to demand
                  peacefully but with determination that our rights as an oppressed people be respected," said
                  Sanchez.

                  The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is expected to make a decision
                  this week on the boy's fate. The INS has set a January 21 hearing on the
                  case, but a final decision can be reached beforehand.

                  With U.S. immigration officials expected to send Elian back to Cuba,
                  Washington has asked Havana to let the boy's father travel to Miami to pick
                  him up. While Cuba has not responded officially, a senior Cuban official told
                  CNN on Tuesday in Havana that Cuba would do whatever the father
                  wishes.

                  One U.S. official said that if the INS decides the boy's father does legally
                  speak for the son, "We felt that the best way to reunite them would be for a
                  family member to come to Miami and take him home."

                  But, another U.S. official told CNN: "The Cubans have been given no
                  assurances on the outcome of this case."

                  The developments came as Elian began his first day at a private school in
                  Miami.

                  'They may even kidnap me or try kill me'

                  Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, has repeatedly told reporters that he
                  has no intention of traveling to the United States to escort his son home.

                  He also told CNN he feared for his safety if he traveled to the United States.
                  "They'll want to pressure me. They may even kidnap me or try kill me.
                  Anything is possible in a country that has done what it's done with my son,"
                  Juan Gonzalez said Monday.

                  But if he changes his mind, the Cuban government now says it will grant him
                  an exit visa.

                  "We will do whatever is convenient for him (the father) according to his
                  wishes in order to solve this problem," said Ricardo Alarcon, who heads
                  Cuba's National Assembly and is President Fidel Castro's point man on
                  U.S. affairs.

                  An INS official who asked not to be identified confirmed to CNN that the
                  Cuban government is considering the U.S. request.

                  Previously, the Castro government would say only it would consider granting
                  the father an exit visa. It believes that under international law Elian should be
                  returned to Cuba without having his father come to get him.

                  To school in Miami

                  Elian's closest relatives, all of whom are in Cuba, have demanded his return
                  since he was rescued at sea November 25. The boy had been in a boat
                  crammed with illegal Cuban migrants that had capsized.

                  Elian's mother, who was divorced from his father, was one of 10 people
                  who died in the incident.

                  The boy, who spent two days and nights clinging to an inner tube, has been
                  staying with paternal relatives in Miami, triggering a highly politicized
                  international custody battle.

                  Elian was in first grade before leaving Cuba, and on Tuesday he resumed his
                  schooling.

                  He arrived with great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez at the private Lincoln-Marti
                  School in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood wearing the school uniform of
                  a white dress shirt and blue pants and carrying a book bag.

                  The boy received an offer of free tuition, books and uniforms when he
                  visited the school last month.

                  "He had a wonderful day," said principal Demetrio Perez. "The teacher is
                  trying to make him a part of the group."

                  In the cafeteria, Perez said the boy asked for a guava pie -- a common
                  Cuban pastry.

                  Father 'speaking his heart'

                  On Monday, Gonzalez and the child's four grandparents and
                  great-grandmother met with representatives of the National Council of
                  Churches who had traveled from the United States to the coastal town of
                  Cardenas, a two-hour drive east of Havana.

                  The council is the United States' largest ecumenical organization,
                  representing 35 Protestant and Orthodox denominations comprising 52
                  million congregants.

                  The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, the organization's outgoing general
                  secretary, promised to press the U.S. government to return Elian to his
                  father. She met Tuesday with Castro.

                  Campbell, a Baptist minister, told CNN the father is "speaking his heart"
                  about wanting his son to come home and not acting under pressure from the
                  Cuban government.

                  "It was very compelling to hear the mother's mother say that she wants the
                  boy back and wants him to be raised by Juan, by the father. I think that's
                  very good evidence that this is a trusting, loving family," Campbell said
                  Tuesday.

                  Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman, Correspondent Susan Candiotti and The Associated
                                    Press contributed to this report.