BY JAY WEAVER

 After a federal judge questioned its denial of Elian Gonzalez's request for an
 asylum hearing, the Justice Department filed new court papers to bolster that
 decision.

 Government lawyers now argue, in papers filed Monday, that Attorney General
 Janet Reno doesn't have to consider Elian's asylum application because his father
 in Cuba -- the only person who can speak for him -- never applied for it.

 That is a departure from their earlier stand: They had argued that Elian's Miami
 relatives might have applied for asylum on his behalf, but the government returned
 the application because his father did not request it.

 The filing responds to U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore's tough questions
 about the application at a hearing Thursday.

 In court papers filed Tuesday, the relatives' attorneys called the Justice
 Department's revision a ``last-ditch tactic'' to deny the boy's right to an asylum
 hearing.

 The unusual volley of arguments follows Thursday's crucial hearing over whether
 the Immigration and Naturalization Service must give Elian an asylum hearing
 under federal law. Moore has not made his ruling yet.

 In January, the Miami relatives sued INS after the agency rejected Elian's
 application for an asylum hearing because it found that only his father can speak
 for him. He lost his mother on a journey from Cuba to Florida, and his father
 wants him returned to Cuba.

 On Tuesday, the relatives' attorneys reiterated their basic argument: ``The simple
 fact is that [federal law] makes the right to petition for asylum available to all
 aliens who are physically present in the United States regardless of status, and
 without limitation as to age or a parent's consent.''

 In Cuba, meanwhile, the Communist Party daily newspaper sharply criticized the
 judge for not making his decision and the legal fund-raising efforts for Elian in
 Miami.

 ``Like piranhas flocking to a weak prey, the relatives of Elian Gonzalez, in addition
 to keeping him kidnapped in Miami, have resorted to the most miserable deceit,
 turning the young boy into a source of fabulous gains,'' an editorial in Granma said
 Tuesday.

 ``The news that arrived Monday . . . said that the Miami relatives had collected
 more than $200,000 through a radio marathon conducted by some Hispanic
 stations in Miami.

 ``. . . And while the money flows and shamelessness spreads among the
 opportunists and their sponsors, federal Judge Michael Moore remains silent as
 to whether or not he has jurisdiction to handle the lawsuit brought by the corrupt
 relatives.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald