By DAVID GONZALEZ

          MIAMI, Jan. 10 -- Defying a ruling by immigration officials that a
          6-year-old Cuban refugee be returned to his father in Cuba this
          week, a judge has granted temporary custody to the boy's relatives in
          Miami until a guardianship hearing can be held in March.

          Judge Rosa Rodriguez of Miami-Dade Circuit Court issued the
          temporary order as part of her decision that her court had jurisdiction
          over a custody petition filed last week by Florida relatives of Elián
          González, who was rescued from an inner tube floating in the Atlantic
          Ocean on Thanksgiving Day. The petition was filed by Lazaro González,
          Elián's paternal great-uncle, who said the child faced "serious and
          unnecessary emotional harm" if he was returned.

          Judge Rodriguez set a court date of March 6 to present evidence.

          "We have always believed in the laws of this country," Mr. González said
          after the ruling. "We were always very positive that a fair decision would
          be reached, and that's what happened."

          Mr. González's petition came only days after the Immigration and
          Naturalization Service ruled that Elián's father, Juan Miguel González,
          was the only person the agency recognized as representing the child's
          best interests. The agency set a deadline of Jan. 14 for the boy to be
          returned to his Cuban hometown, Cárdenas.

          A spokesman for the immigration service said the agency had not yet
          seen the judge's ruling and could not comment on how it would affect the
          deadline. The agency and the Department of Justice are also reviewing a
          legal response to a subpoena from Representative Dan Burton,
          Republican of Indiana, that seeks to have Elián remain in this country until
          a Congressional hearing.

          The agency originally released Elián to the care of his great-uncle since he
          was rescued in November after his mother and other Cuban refugees
          died when their boat capsized during an effort to reach the United States.
          Since then, lawyers for the child have filed a request for political asylum,
          a claim that could be bolstered if the great-uncle succeeds in being
          named his guardian.

          "Elián can now experience due process, and it is a first step in a process
          we have only just begun," said Eduardo Rasco, a lawyer for Elián's
          Miami relatives.

          While not addressing specifics, the judge said the father would be served
          with copies of the court order and would be asked to appear before her.
          She said that if he did not attend the hearings, the decision could be
          "adverse to his interests."

          The father has repeatedly insisted he would not travel to this country,
          saying that he was certain his rights as a surviving biological parent would
          be upheld by any court.

          Today's ruling was greeted with exultation by Elián's supporters, who
          staged large public protests last week to prevent the boy's return to
          Cuba.

          They had insisted that they only wanted a chance to present in court their
          case for keeping the child in Miami, adding that they feared he would be
          used as a political trophy by Cuba's President, Fidel Castro.

          Jose Basulto, president of the Cuban exile group Brothers to the Rescue,
          said: "Even though it is temporary, it leads us in the right direction and it
          leads us to a court hearing. We will abide by the court's decision,
          whatever it is, but we are not going to just sit back and let them ship Elián
          to Cuba just so this country can appease Castro."

          Experts in family law were surprised by today's ruling, given how the
          immigration service had seemed to have settled the question of who
          spoke for the child. They said the Miami relatives would be hard pressed
          to present a case that the boy should be removed from his father, whose
          Cuban neighbors described him as devoted.

          Bernard Pearlmutter, director of the Children and Youth Law Clinic at
          the University of Miami, said the Miami relatives would have to prove
          that Elián's father had abused, neglected or abandoned him.

          "It seems to me that they are making a very tenuous claim that returning
          Elián to Cuba, where he would perhaps be deprived of freedom and of
          material well-being children have in this country, is sufficient basis to have
          the father declared unfit," Mr. Pearlmutter said "That doesn't, to me,
          satisfy even a prima facie case under Florida law."

          Cuban officials were in meetings in the early evening and had no
          immediate comment. But at a rally outside the American Interests Section
          in Havana, protesters expressed shock. "I cannot imagine something like
          this happening in a country where there is law," said Ydilsis Fernandez
          Mojica, who works for the ministry of education. "This is against
          humanity. What do those people believe?"