BY EUNICE PONCE

 In a rare break of his trademark silence, Sam Ciancio, the Pompano Beach man
 who jumped in the water to rescue Elian Gonzalez on Thanksgiving Day, and the
 man who just renamed his boat ``Elian,'' is urging authorities to let the boy decide
 his own fate.

 ``I want to hear that child say, `I want to go back with my father,' and if he does,
 the people of Miami should respect that. But if he says he wants to stay, then so
 be it, and that should be the end of it.''

 Ciancio, who said Thursday night that he's planning to travel to Washington to
 meet Elian's father, said he thought it unwise to move the boy from the home
 where he said he's felt loved and comfortable. But if it comes to Elian leaving for
 Cuba with his father, Ciancio said he would want to get to know Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez.

 ``If for nothing else but for myself, I want to meet him,'' he said. ``I just want to see
 who this child will be given back to.''

 With respect to Elian's wishes, Ciancio said he has seen how the 6-year-old rafter
 has come to view his cousin, Marisleysis Gonzalez, as a mother figure. He has
 also heard the boy say he doesn't want to return to Cuba, he said.

 ``The United States is wrong at this point. Maybe at first he could have been sent
 back to his father. He would have had just one mishap in his life,'' Ciancio said,
 referring to the death of Elian's mother, Elisabeth Brotons, who perished during
 the voyage from Cuba.

 FAMILY MEETING

 Laura Fabar, a family law attorney on the Elian's Miami family's legal team, said
 an evidentiary court hearing, with all family members present, ``is still a viable
 action.''

 But with respect to Elian being questioned in front of his relatives, she said family
 court judges are typically reluctant to subject children to that kind of pressure.

 Ciancio's more outspoken cousin, Donato Dalrymple, who was fishing with
 Ciancio when the two found Elian hanging onto an inner tube, agreed with
 Ciancio, but also thought it highly unlikely that anyone would ever ask Elian what
 he thinks.

 MAKE AMENDS

 But Dalrymple was adamant on one point. He said Elian should not be removed
 from his Little Havana home during the appeals process.

 ``I think the boy's father needs to sit with the boy here, where [Elian] feels loved
 and comfortable, and he needs to reconcile with his uncle [Lazaro Gonzalez],
 who has done nothing but love this little boy,'' Dalrymple said. ``This family needs
 to make amends. [Elian] needs to see his father interacting with the family, that
 everything is OK. These are family members who were having a good time
 together just over a year and a half ago in Cardenas.''

 Ciancio, who has two children of his own, expressed doubts about Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez's stated intentions of wanting to take the boy back to Cuba.

 ``I would go to the end of the world for my kids,'' he said. ``I would go through fire,
 through bricks, to be there by their side. I think in my heart, why [Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez] didn't come originally, is that he was glad for his son to be here.''

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald