MIREIDY FERNANDEZ

 Passionate about the plight of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez, and feeling a lingering sense of outrage over Saturday's predawn raid in Little Havana, a busload of Florida International University students left for Washington Wednesday to lobby on behalf of the Miami family.

 ``This whole deal with Elian doesn't just pertain to Cubans. How much authority have we given the federal government where we are all subject to violations of privacy,'' said 20-year-old Carlos Hernandez, president of the Cuban American Student Association.

 About 50 students, including many from Nicaragua, Honduras and other Latin American countries, will spend the day today protesting in front of the Justice Department building and the Capitol.

 ``The seizure itself raises a lot of suspicion,'' said Hernandez. ``There's a lot of speculation and this needs to be investigated so the public knows the ultimate answers.''

 The caravan will meet university students from New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York.

 At first, the students had difficulty chartering a bus to Washington, Hernandez said, because so many buses already were reserved for graduating high school students headed for the annual Grad Nite event at Disney World.

 The $4,000 trip was funded by various members of the exile community, said Hernandez, who organized the journey.

 FIU spokeswoman Maydel Santana-Bravo confirmed that the students were using private funding to travel to Washington.

 Alex Segura Jr., editor-in-chief for the university's newspaper, The Beacon, said student reaction to Saturday's raid was split.

 ``Everyone here was talking about it, and there was a lot of uproar about how the INS did it,'' he said. ``But, some students thought it was the right thing to do.''

 The students are scheduled to return Friday morning, Hernandez said.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald