BY JUAN O. TAMAYO, JAY WEAVER AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI

 Cuban President Fidel Castro threw both sides in the custody battle over Elian
 Gonzalez for a loop Wednesday night with a staggering proposal to send the boy's
 father and family, classmates, teachers and pediatrician -- among others -- to live
 with him in the United States while a court appeal over his fate is concluded.

 Castro's announcement, broadcast live on Cuban TV, came in the middle of five
 hours of tense negotiations between Elian's Miami relatives and federal officials that
 failed to produce an agreement that might avert Elian's immediate return to Cuba.
 Both sides resumed talks this morning.

 This afternoon, the father of Elian Gonzalez applied for a visa to travel to the United
 States from Cuba to regain custody of his son.

 Attorney Gregory Craig submitted the visa application on behalf of Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez, his wife and other family members.

 ''The only person that has the legal and moral authority to speak for Elian Gonzalez
 is his father,'' Craig told reporters. ''Juan Miguel Gonzalez is ready at a moment's
 notice to come to the United States.''

 immigration authorities had said they would put off by 24 hours a threatened revocation
 of Elian's legal permission to remain in the country. That would mean that the Immigration
 and Naturalization Service could move to demand custody of Elian on Friday if a deal
 is not reached today.

 The sticking point of the negotiations between the Miami relatives and the INS is
 when and how Elian's great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez would transfer Elian to INS
 custody should he lose a federal court appeal now under way.

 The talks are taking lplace in an atmosphere heavy with political recrimination and
 threats of disruptive protests, as exile leaders and elected officials in Miami and
 Tallahassee aimed a stream of harsh words at U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno
 and President Clinton.

 MESSAGE OF DEFIANCE

 One of the most controversial messages came from Miami-Dade Mayor Alex
 Penelas,  who, backed by other local mayors, vowed not to help federal authorities
 take custody of Elian.

 While stressing later that he would not allow ''illegal demonstrations,'' Penelas
 used unusually pointed language that seemed to accuse Reno and Clinton of
 fostering unrest in Miami through legal ''strong-arm tactics.''

 Castro's proposal to send a virtual village to Washington, D.C., went well beyond
 Castro's previous proposal to allow Juan Miguel Gonzalez to travel to the United
 States only to pick up the boy and return him to Cuba. U.S. officials said the
 scenario is so unusual they remained skeptical.

 Castro himself said it was ''like bringing Cardenas to Washington, a reference to
 the town in north-central Cuba where Elian's family lives. The offer is designed, he
 said, to speed Elian's ''re-integration'' into Cuban society.

 PROPOSAL SHOCKS FAMILY

 INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said she could not comment on the Castro
 offer. ''We don't have any information on that. I don't know what to tell you.'' State
 Department officials said the boy's father had not yet applied for a U.S. visa by
 late Wednesday.

 The boy's Miami relatives, also clearly unprepared for the offer, had little to say
 after their meeting with the government broke up at around 9 p.m.

 ''The family is not going to agree to anything that's not in Elian's best interests,
 because Elian has suffered a lot,'' said Armando Gutierrez, a spokesman for the
 Miami relatives.

 But Castro's proposal may be intended to call the Miami relatives' bluff. The
 relatives have said they would consider turning Elian over to his father if he came
 accompanied by his new wife and child to ensure he was not being coerced by
 the Cuban government.

 The delegation would include, besides Gonzalez and his new family, a favorite
 cousin of Elian's, 12 of his first-grade classmates in Cardenas, including best pal
 Hansel Orlando, plus Elian's teacher, a psychiatrist and a legal advisor.

 Castro described the group's members as ''indispensable, according to the
 doctors' criteria, to proceed without losing a minute to Elian's readaptation.''

 A VILLAGE

 Father, wife and two sons would stay at the home of the head of the Cuban
 diplomatic mission in Washington, Fernando Remirez de Estenoz, described as a
 medium-size split level in suburban Chevy Chase with two guest rooms. The
 others will be housed with diplomats at the Cuban Interests Section.

 The only conditions, Castro insisted, are U.S. assurances that Gonzalez will have
 physical custody of Elian throughout the legal process, and that Washington ''is
 doing everything required to expedite the boy's return to Cuba.''

 During a day of escalating tensions, exile leaders angry at the government's tough
 posture said they were preparing street demonstrations, including blockades of
 Miami International Airport and the Port of Miami-Dade, if immigration authorities
 try to fulfill their threat to quickly send Elian home.

 About 4:30 p.m., a caravan of dump trucks, vans and SUVs circled the six blocks
 around the house -- blasting horns in a cacophony of protest. Organized by the
 Democracy Movement, it was a sign of what could be done to stop federal
 marshals from picking up Elian should the situation come to that.

 Meissner, the INS commissioner, said in an interview that the agency does not
 intend to forcibly remove Elian even if his parole is revoked. ''It does not suggest in
 any way we are going to come in and pick him up,'' she said.

 Still, exile protest leaders began rehearsing a human chain around the Gonzalez
 family home in Little Havana Wednesday afternoon. Thousands attended a prayer
 vigil in Little Havana Wednesday night to show support for Elian's Miami relatives.

 Elian stayed home on Wednesday. At about 2:20 p.m., he went looking for
 Easter eggs hidden in his home's backyard garden by great-uncle Delfin
 Gonzalez and family friend Roberto Curbelo.

 RENO CRITICIZED

 All day, state elected officials from both major parties, including Gov. Jeb Bush
 and the Cabinet, harshly criticized Reno for pushing the showdown with Elian's
 Miami relatives.

 Penelas ignited criticism when he said, ''If their continued provocation in the form
 of unjustified threats to revoke the boy's parole, leads to civil unrest and violence,
 we are holding the federal government and specifically Janet Reno and the
 President of United States responsible.''

 Penelas' comments drew a dry rebuke from Clinton during a news conference in
 Washington.

 ''Well, I like the mayor very much, but I still believe in the rule of law here,'' Clinton
 said. ''Whatever the law is, whatever the decision is ultimately made, the rest of
 us ought to obey it.''

 The 11th Circuit Appeals Court in Atlanta has agreed to an expedited schedule for
 the relatives' appeal of a District Court order that upheld Reno's right to deliver
 Elian to his father and has already scheduled oral arguments for the week of May
 8, but the government contends it is not legally bound to await the outcome.

 Herald staff writers Ana Acle, Steve Bousquet, Alfonso Chardy, and Marika
 Lynch, and staff translator Renato Perez, as well as Herald wire services,
 contributed to this report.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald