Three of 11 Cubans who tried to reach the United States in a boat fashioned from a 1959 Buick automobile have been granted a reprieve from repatriation.

  BY TERE FIGUERAS AND CHARLES RABIN

  A Cuban mother, father and their child -- part of a group whose failed attempt to cross the Florida Straits in a floating Buick car landed them in Coast Guard custody -- cannot be returned to the island before Monday, a federal judge ruled Friday.

  Lawyers for the Democracy Movement, a Cuban exile group, argued for the emergency injunction before U.S. District Judge Federico A. Moreno, saying that all 11 Cubans on the car-boat should be allowed entry to the United States.

  Moreno, however, granted a temporary stay only for the three people specifically named in the Democracy Movement motion: Luis Grass Rodríguez, wife Isora Hernández and their 4-year-old son, Angel Luis.

  Grass, who gained fame as one of the masterminds behind a floating 1951 Chevy truck that also failed to make it to U.S. soil last year, was eligible for a U.S. visa along with his child, lawyers said. But, they said, persecution in their Havana neighborhood forced them to flee.

  Moreno postponed a decision on the family's future because of uncertainty over their immigration status and conflicting arguments about the court's jurisdiction.

  The fate of the other eight aboard the floating '59 Buick, which set off from Havana Monday, was not addressed by Moreno.

  Neither the State Department nor the U.S. Coast Guard would comment on the case.

  The eight not covered by Moreno's order still face repatriation -- but there is still a glimmer of hope, according to exile leaders, who say they were told the group may be sent to the U.S. Naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

  ''We are thrilled that they are considering this case of the 11 Cubans,'' said Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, who declined to elaborate on his source of information.

  He said he has heard the group may be sent to Guantánamo. Cubans intercepted at sea are generally repatriated, but those who show a ''credible fear'' of persecution can be taken to the naval base, where their asylum claims undergo further evaluation.

  Garcia, who this week blasted the Bush administration for what the foundation labeled a failure to make good on promises to Cuban-American constituents, said the plight of the Buick's 11 occupants was yet another symbol of the shortcomings of current U.S.-Cuba policies.

  ''This administration is scrambling to regain the confidence of the Cuban-American community, which it is losing through indifference and neglect,'' he said.

  U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the possibility of entry to Guantánamo fell short of the migrants' goal.

  ''Their obvious, direct choice is the United States, and liberty and freedom,'' said the Republican congresswoman, who said her office would work to help the Cubans find entry to a third-party country should they be sent to the naval base.

  In federal court, federal prosecutor Dexter Lee denied any of the Cubans had passes to the United States and argued Moreno had no jurisdiction over migrants at sea.

  Moreno, who acknowledged the migrants faced a ''high hurdle,'' said he preferred to postpone his final decision after briefly listening to both sides.

  ''I am going to be cautious so I do not err,'' he said, setting a hearing for Feb. 16.

  Another man on the boat, Grass' childhood friend Marcial Basanta López, also attempted an escape aboard the Buick and the Chevy truck, leaving his South Florida family baffled over why his status is different from that of Grass'.

  ''He and Luis are always together, like brothers. They were both the leaders in both trips,'' said Basanta's cousin, Kiriat López. ``How can they say one is persecuted and the other not?''

  After the aborted trip aboard the customized Chevy ''truck-boat,'' Basanta and Grass had to scrounge once again for meager income, their relatives say. When they decided to try another automotive escape aboard a friend's old Buick, Basanta sold what little he had to buy supplies on the black market.

  ''The only thing left in his house is the freezer,'' López said.

  ``Anyone who thinks they are coming here because they want to eat ham-and-cheese sandwiches and drink Coca-Cola is crazy. They want to be free.''