BY ANDRES VIGLUCCI ANA ACLE AND MARIKA LYNCH

 A reunion between Elian Gonzalez and his father in Washington, D.C. was
 put on hold this morning, reportedly because the 6-year-old boy did not
 want to go.

 In a startling late-night twist to the custody struggle over Elian Gonzalez, the
 Cuban American National Foundation had announced that the boy's great
 uncle Lazaro Gonzalez would fly with the boy to Washington, D.C., today
 for a meeting with the child's father.

 But Lazaro Gonzalez threw the whole trip into doubt when he told a crowd
 outside his Little Havana house after midnight that Elian didn't want to go.

 ''The boy lives in Florida. The boy has a new home. The boy said he does not
 want to go to Washington,'' Gonzalez said.

 In another twist this morning, Lazaro, Elian and a psychologist who was trying
 to convince the boy to make the Washington trip were going to the home of Sister
 Jeanne O'Laughlin, who hosted a reunion between Elian and his grandmothers
 earlier this year, said family spokesman Armando Gutierrez.

 It was not clear why they were gathering in O'Laughlin's home, but Marisleysis
 Gonzalez, Elian's cousin who is regarded as his surrogate mother, was expected
 to join the meeting after her release from Mercy Hospital today.

 O'Laughlin visited the Gonzalez's Little Havana home this morning, where
 about 30 or so demonstrators gathered despite the pouring rain.

 A source close to the negotiations to set up the meeting had said earlier in
 the day there was a possibility the relatives would turn over custody of Elian
 to his father during the meeting, which had been scheduled for noon.

 But this morning, television news shows were reporting that the family had
 decided the trip would not take place - for now.

 The announcement of the meeting had come as the Immigration and
 Naturalization Service was preparing a letter that would direct the boy's Miami
 relatives to surrender him Thursday morning.

 The goal of today's meeting, according to one of the Miami relatives' lawyers,
 would be for them to hear from Juan Miguel Gonzalez whether he truly wants his
 son returned to him. The Miami family has insisted Gonzalez has been coerced
 by the Cuban government into demanding Elian's return.

 Jorge Mas Santos, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, had
 said the meeting would be attended by the following people: Elian's father, Juan
 Miguel Gonzalez, his new wife and 6-month-old son, and, on the Miami side of
 the family, Lazaro Gonzalez, his brother Delfin, Elian, and two adult cousins,
 Alfredo and Maria Isabel Martell. Monitoring the meeting would be Deputy
 Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., who helped
 arrange it.

 Juan Miguel Gonzalez was meeting late Tuesday with his American lawyer,
 Gregory Craig, to work out details of the meeting, which was to take place at an
 undisclosed neutral location to protect the families' privacy.

 INS said this morning they were hopeful that the family would be able to arrange a
 father-son reunion. If plans fall through, however, the agency will issue a demand
 letter today instructing the family to hand the boy over to his father.

 The draft of the government's letter called for transferring the boy at 10 a.m.
 Thursday morning at the Coast Guard air station at Opa-locka Airport, but INS
 spokeswoman Maria Cardona said Friday was when the transfer would likely take
 place.

 The Miami relatives had been seeking such a meeting since Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez arrived in Washington a week ago to reclaim custody of his son.

 MEETING BROKER

 Roger Bernstein, a member of the relatives' legal team, said late Tuesday
 Torricelli had been trying to broker the meeting through the Justice Department for
 some 24 hours. For several weeks, Torricelli has been discussing a possible deal
 in the Elian case with Cuban exile leaders and top officials in the justice
 department, including Holder. Torricelli has been a longtime confidant of leaders of
 the Cuban American National Foundation.

 U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno earlier Tuesday considered a meeting in
 Miami today with the relatives in an attempt to persuade them to cooperate
 in the hand-over. But the visit was suspended when the plan for Lazaro's trip
 was announced.

 Earlier Tuesday, the Miami relatives had another proposal: meet with Juan
 Miguel Gonzalez in Miami without government oversight. But Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez said he didn't want to meet with his relatives until after he had
 custody of his son.

 The INS planned to base the specific instructions in its transfer letter on the
 recommendations of a government-appointed team of mental health experts
 who interviewed Lazaro Gonzalez Monday in Miami. The three experts,
 charged with suggesting the least-traumatic way to transfer custody of Elian,
 briefed Reno on Tuesday.

 They have recommended a one- to two-week period during which Juan Miguel
 Gonzalez has custody of Elian, but his Miami relatives can visit the boy.

 It would be up to Gonzalez to decide whether to follow the experts'
 recommendations, a Justice official said. The father could immediately return to
 Cuba with the boy, as the government says he's free to do.

 Early Tuesday, before saying that he planned to fly to Washington, Lazaro
 Gonzalez suggested a Miami meeting with his nephew Juan Miguel in a letter to
 one of the government-selected mental-health experts.

 The letter stressed that the family, including Elian, would go to the meeting only if
 the government can guarantee Elian would not be immediately turned over to his
 father, but could return to the relatives' Little Havana home.

 Lazaro Gonzalez proposed the meeting take place at the Miami Beach home of
 O'Laughlin, president of Barry University -- the location of Elian's January visit with
 his grandmothers from Cuba. O'Laughlin subsequently announced her belief that
 Elian should stay in the U.S.

 ''In essence, Lazaro is willing to and insisting on a family meeting as soon as
 possible. Lazaro has indicated that this is a family matter that should be
 discussed by the family as most do around the kitchen table,'' said Manny Diaz,
 an attorney for Gonzalez.

 ''It's imperative that only the family meet,'' Diaz said. ''And that the meeting should
 take place before any further action.''

 Justice officials said their transfer plans could change if Juan Miguel Gonzalez
 asked that they be postponed.

 ''If Juan Miguel comes to us and says, 'Hold off, I want you to wait for this
 meeting,' we will do so,'' one official said. ''Otherwise we're moving ahead with the
 transfer.''

 Earlier Tuesday the Miami relatives' lawyers made a series of legal moves to
 prevent the transfer of custody: They asked a Miami-Dade family court judge to
 bar the boy's return to Cuba until a custody hearing on his father's fitness can be
 held. That came a day after they filed an appeal of a federal court order upholding
 Reno's authority to send Elian home.

 Herald staff writers Frank Davies, Eunice Ponce, Frances Robles, staff translator
 Renato Perez, and Herald writer Jasmine Kripalani and Herald news services
 contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald