BY TYLER BRIDGES

 Escalating tension in the aftermath of the raid to seize Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez claimed Miami City Manager Donald Warshaw as a victim when he was fired by Mayor Joe Carollo at the City Commission meeting Thursday night.

 Although Carollo said the firing had nothing to do with the dispute over the boy, it came after days of growing anger in the Cuban-American community over the city police department's role in the federal raid to seize Elian and in the Cuban exile demonstrations that followed.

 With hundreds of Cuban Americans cheering him on at City Hall, Carollo made his dramatic announcement despite private warnings from Gov. Jeb Bush, prominent business leaders and City Commissioner Arthur Teele Jr. earlier in the day that firing Warshaw now would inflame ethnic tensions in Miami, already at a fever pitch.

 ``This is not an easy thing for me to do,'' Carollo said in an emotional statement. ``I have gone through so much in my years as mayor that it would have been enough to kill 20 mayors . . . but I've never run away from my responsibilities, I've always put this city first. I have been, Mr. Warshaw, an honorable mayor. I put this city above everything else.''

 In a speech before the largely hostile crowd, Warshaw said he ached over the city's problems and expressed his love for Miami and its residents.

 ``I'm sad for all that is happening in the city,'' he said. ``Please be calm. The eyes of the world are watching us.''

 He said he plans to stay in the job for the 10 days allowed under the city charter. He can keep his job if four of the five commissioners vote to block Carollo's move during that period. But Warshaw's support on the commission has eroded as anger in the Cuban-American community has increased.

 Carollo fired Warshaw five days after federal agents seized Elian from his Little Havana home, a move that prompted Carollo to criticize Warshaw and Police Chief William O'Brien.

 In the days after the raid, the mayor complained that O'Brien had not notified him of the seizure beforehand and had allowed one of his lieutenants, Assistant Chief John Brooks, to accompany the federal agents. He asked Warshaw to fire O'Brien, but the city manager refused.

 But Carollo told the overflow crowd that his decision to fire Warshaw had nothing to do with the raid or with complaints that the police had used excessive force in handling street demonstrations.

 UNFILLED JOBS

 Carollo said Warshaw has not filled the positions of budget director and finance director, and that one of his three assistant city managers is leaving her job next month. Carollo also complained that Warshaw recently brought only one of the two finalists for the budget director's job to meet him.

 ``Important positions are in shambles,'' Carollo said.

 It's unclear whether Warshaw can muster support on the commission to keep his job. Only Commissioner Johnny Winton is a solid vote for Warshaw.

 Winton said he thought Carollo was making Warshaw ``a scapegoat.'' He said he hopes ``we can get cooler heads to come to the table and heal the community. If we don't, we're a doomed community.''

 Commissioner Joe Sanchez said he received 250 phone calls and e-mails Wednesday, with 90 percent calling for Warshaw's ouster.

 In recent days, Armando Perez Roura, the director of Radio Mambi (710 AM), has said that although Miami is a Cuban-American city, no one has paid the price for the brutality suffered by the Cuban-American community since Saturday. Sixty percent of the voters in Miami are Cuban Americans.

 Cuban radio commentators called on listeners to attend the City Commission meeting, and the crowd exceeded the chamber's capacity of 125, with perhaps 500 more people in hallways and the parking lot. Nearly everyone appeared to want Carollo to fire Warshaw.

 CHIEF WON'T QUIT

 Many in the crowd called on O'Brien also to step down, but he said in an interview, ``I'm not expecting to resign.''

 About a dozen African Americans and non-Hispanic whites held signs supporting Warshaw outside City Hall.

 One Warshaw supporter, Georgia Ayers, a 71-year-old Liberty City neighborhood leader, who held a sign that read, ``Loco Joe Gotta Go,'' twice disrupted the commission meeting with insults of Teele and Carollo.

 In response to the complaints about police conduct, the commission voted to convene a task force to investigate the department's actions since Saturday.

 Warshaw was able to block Carollo from ousting O'Brien because the city manager, in many respects, has more power than the mayor under Miami's charter. The city manager oversees the police department, the fire department and the 25 other city departments. The city manager also prepares the city's budget.

 One of Carollo's few powers is to hire and fire the city manager.

 Warshaw, 57, started on the city's payroll 28 years ago as a police officer. In 1994, he was named police chief, a post he held for four years. In 1998, Carollo named him city manager.

 As city manager, Warshaw has won high marks for not letting city commissioners interfere in the decisions of his professional staff -- a longtime problem under previous city managers -- as well as recruiting a respected senior staff, reducing crime and playing a major role in turning the city's budget deficit into a surplus.

 In fact, Warshaw has received far more credit for the city's financial turnaround than Carollo -- something that prompted private complaints by the mayor. Warshaw, in an interview this week, said the mayor in a March 17 meeting cursed him while complaining that he was getting more press than the mayor.

 If Warshaw does not get City Commission backing to keep his job, it is not clear who Carollo might name as his replacement.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald