BY FRANK DAVIES

 WASHINGTON -- Faced with the growing likelihood that federal officials will transfer Elian Gonzalez to his father, the three Cuban-American members of Congress are questioning Juan Miguel Gonzalezs ability to act independently, and inviting him to lunch -- and a chance to defect.

 Gonzalez told top U.S. officials Friday, with his wife and infant son at his side, that he only wanted to retrieve Elian and return to Cuba, and there were no Cuban officials present at the meeting, Attorney General Janet Reno said.

 But Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican, has sent a memo to Republican leaders on Capitol Hill asserting that Gonzalezs lawyer, Gregory Craig, assured Fidel Castro last week that he would work with U.S. security forces to prevent Gonzalez from defecting or meeting with people Castro objected to.

 ``Craig is working as Castros main public relations agent,'' Diaz-Balart said Monday, citing his own sources.

 ``Hes following Castros orders that Gonzalez cant meet with us [the three Cuban-American House members] or with his uncles.''

 Craig did not return phone calls Monday but Saturday he told columnist Robert Novak that Diaz-Balarts memo was ``false -- I dont know where they get that. They just make it up.''

 Floridas two senators, Republican Connie Mack and Democrat Bob Graham, urged Craig in a Friday letter to set up a meeting with the father and several of the Miami relatives who have cared for Elian. ``Were still pressing for that,'' a spokeswoman for Mack said Monday. Craig had not responded to the request.

 One invitation Gonzalez is not likely to accept came from Reps. Diaz-Balart, Miami Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez to a private lunch on Capitol Hill with the encouragement to defect.

 Gonzalez has spent his five days in the United States at the Bethesda, Md., home of the chief of the Cuban Interests Section, Fernando Remirez.

 Cuban officials said they would waive diplomatic immunity on the home, but a State Department spokesman said Monday that was not done, and that Secret Service forces continue to provide some security at the residence.

 Herald special correspondent Ana Radelat contributed to this report.