BY JAY WEAVER, FRANK DAVIES AND ANDRES VIGLUCCI

 Even as Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives vowed to go to the U.S. Supreme
 Court in their fight to prevent the boy's return to Cuba, their lawyers and
 government officials have been quietly seeking a compromise that would
 avert a long legal battle and unrest on the streets of Miami.

 Sources involved in or knowledgeable about the talks, which have been
 going on for weeks, say both sides remain far apart. An attempt at
 mediation by U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., collapsed last week
 even after the Miami relatives offered to drop some of their legal claims in
 exchange for an immigration court hearing for Elian, several sources said.

 But the effort to negotiate a solution to the international custody battle
 continued Wednesday in Miami, when government lawyers and attorneys
 for the Miami relatives sat down at the U.S. attorney's office downtown.

 The meeting, convened by government officials, focused on what the Miami
 relatives' lawyers plan to do next rather than on deal-making, sources said.

 After the meeting, both sides said they would continue talking. The discussions
 will continue even while the Miami relatives' lawyers prepare an appeal of
 Tuesday's federal court decision that upheld U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's
 authority to send Elian home to his father in Cuba.

 ``We're maintaining a dialogue with the Department of Justice, and I think
 everyone agrees that it's important we continue that dialogue,'' said Kendall
 Coffey, one of the attorneys representing Elian's Miami relatives.

 Coffey, the former U.S. attorney in Miami, declined to go into specifics.

 In addition to Coffey, Roger Bernstein, Linda Osberg-Braun and Barbara Lagoa
 represented the interests of Elian's Miami relatives at the meeting. Representing
 the government side were U.S. Attorney Thomas Scott, First Assistant U.S.
 Attorney Guy Lewis and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee, along with INS
 lawyers William Howard and Dan Vara.

 The relatives' lawyers have made one wish plain: They hope the government will
 agree to take no action to remove Elian until their appeal of U.S. District Judge K.
 Michael Moore's order is concluded. So far, though, the government has not
 responded publicly to the plea.

 Officials at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, however, stressed
 that the fact they're willing to talk doesn't mean that Reno is softening her position
 that Elian must go home -- only that they're open to working out a mutually
 acceptable way of accomplishing that goal.

 VIOLENCE CONCERN

 Government officials have acknowledged that they have been hesitant to take
 aggressive action in the case, such as forcibly removing Elian, in part because of
 concern over setting off potentially violent demonstrations by Cuban exiles.

 ``The court has sustained our decision, and we want to work with all the parties
 involved in moving toward an orderly process of effectuating that,'' said Maria
 Cardona, chief spokeswoman for the INS in Washington, declining to discuss
 particulars.

 Behind the scenes, however, Reno is coming under increasing pressure to act
 decisively now that her ruling has the firm backing of a federal judge.

 On Wednesday evening, Reno met in her office with influential Washington lawyer
 Gregory Craig, who is representing Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Craig
 did not return a call to his office. Reno issued a brief statement reiterating her
 intention of returning Elian to Cuba.

 ``I believe it is time for Elian to be reunited with his father,'' the statement said in
 part. ``I told Mr. Craig that we will work with everybody concerned to achieve this
 goal in an orderly, fair and prompt manner.''

 INTERNAL DEBATE

 Tuesday's ruling by Moore has spurred internal debate inside the Department of
 Justice over whether to move quickly to return Elian to Cuba, or allow time for the
 appeal to be concluded, a process that could take months. Forcibly removing the
 child from the Little Havana home of his relatives is the last option being
 considered, but has not been ruled out, one source said.

 ``There are a lot of things we are considering,'' a Justice Department official said,
 declining to elaborate.

 Even less clear is what the Miami relatives hope to gain from negotiating, given
 the government's stated unwillingness to budge from its position ruling out any
 kind of immigration or asylum hearing for Elian.

 But their overtures to the government, which led to the Torricelli mediation, may
 reflect a recognition of their narrowing legal and political options. Independent
 legal experts say the appellate court in Atlanta is highly unlikely to overrule
 Moore, while proposals in Congress to grant Elian legal status to circumvent INS
 control of his case remain stalled.

 At the very least, the family's lawyers have asked the government to take no
 immediate action to remove Elian.

 ALL THE WAY

 The lawyers said Wednesday they would go as far as the Supreme Court if
 necessary to prevent the 6-year-old child, who lost his mother in an ill-fated
 smuggling trip in November, from being returned to Cuba.

 ``Yes, definitely, the case of Elian Gonzalez is important enough to go all the way
 to the Supreme Court,'' said Spencer Eig, a member of the family's legal team.

 Eig and Coffey, speaking to local and national media during an early morning
 round of interviews at La Carreta restaurant in Little Havana, reiterated their hope
 that immigration officials will not remove Elian from his Miami relatives' Little
 Havana home while their appeal is being readied.

 ``There is no emergency to return him to Cuba,'' Eig said. ``Let the appeals
 process play out. Elian deserves his day in court.''

 Sources said the family's attorneys tried to gain the government's agreement to
 allow that during the conversations mediated by Torricelli.

 FULL HEARING

 The family's goal, sources said, was to obtain for Elian a full-blown hearing that
 would allow them to air their concerns over conditions the boy would face if
 returned to Cuba, and allegations that the boy's father and grandmothers had
 been coerced by the government to call for his return to the island.

 One offer from the relatives was to drop the custody petition they filed in
 Miami-Dade's family court.

 ``It never came to fruition,'' said a source familiar with the negotiations. ``But that
 go-around is an indication that all the parties involved are open to a resolution.''

 Torricelli, however, suggested that Justice officials were unwilling to bend on
 allowing some kind of hearing for Elian -- the issue over which the boy's relatives
 sued and lost in Moore's courtroom. He did not say that he intervened in the
 talks, but confirmed that they took place.

 ``It's regrettable that this case is now being resolved in the courts over legal
 technicalities without exposing conditions in Cuba or exploring whether the father
 is acting out of free will,'' Torricelli said.

 ``The Department of Justice does not appear to be sensitive to the interests of the
 child.''

 Herald staff writer Alfonso Chardy contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald