BY CASEY WOODS AND ALFONSO CHARDY

Cuban reggaeton star Elvis Manuel may be lost at sea, marooned on a tiny spit of sand in the Florida Straits, hiding on the communist island or waiting it out somewhere to make a grand entrance into the U.S. rapper scene.

The mystery of Elvis Manuel Martínez Nodarse's whereabouts was heightened Friday when it was learned his mother was being held on a Coast Guard cutter, but officials said the singer was not among those interdicted at sea. He may have been on a second boat, supporters said.

The Coast Guard confirmed Friday night that it had begun a search.

Elvis Manuel, 19, purportedly left Cuba on Monday on a 33-foot boat with his mother and 23 other people, including two other rappers -- Carlos Rojas Hernandez, known as ''DJ Carlitos,'' 30, and Alejandro ''DJ Jerry'' Rodriguez Lopez, whose age was not available, his friends and his U.S. music producer say. Weather conditions were rough from Sunday night into early Monday, according to the National Weather Service office in Key West.

Left behind: the rapper's 10-year-old sister with Down syndrome, who stayed in Cuba with their father. She is one reason, his friends said, that Elvis Manuel is driven to succeed -- to get her better care.

''Everything he does is for her, and his biggest hope is to get her out one day,'' said Javier ''Voltaje'' Fernández, owner of Metamorphasis Music and Production, who collaborated with the rapper on his recent single -- a reggaeton-rap fusion called Esa Mujer, or That Woman. ``He is a simple, kind person.''

The young performer's disappearance once again drew attention to the growing number of Cuban migrants leaving the island. At least 1,240 Cuban migrants have been interdicted in the Florida Straits in the last six months -- 425 more than during a similar period the previous year -- an indication of rising smuggling operations, U.S. officials say. Almost 8,000 other Cuban migrants have landed on South Florida shores or shown up at the Mexican border since October.

Many of those who have arrived on U.S. soil are artists, athletes and other professionals who say they see little or no future in Cuba despite the recent political shifts. The ailing Fidel Castro resigned as president in February, replaced by his brother Raúl, who so far has enacted limited economic reforms.

Friends and fans of Elvis Manuel staged vigils and rallies Friday, hoping to put pressure on an extensive search at sea and to ensure that if Elvis Manuel is found, he would not be returned to Cuba.

Among those showing solidarity, Cuban-American singer Willy Chirino and humorist Bonco Quiñongo, who left Cuba for Spain in 1999 and appears on several comedy shows on South Florida Spanish-language television station America TeVe, and the hosts of a morning radio show on El Zol 95.7 FM, El Vacilón de Miami, which aired live from Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana.

'DOUBLE PERSECUTION'

''He will have a double persecution if he gets sent back -- first physical and mental, and second as an artist,'' said Quiñongo, whose real name is Conrado Cogle, "because his career there will be over.''

U.S.-based producers who work with Elvis Manuel said his growing frustration with the Cuban government drove him to try to leave immediately -- even though they were working on a Latin American tour for him this summer, one that could have allowed him to defect safely. Fernández pointed to an April 4 performance in Havana, where, he said, Elvis Manuel's show was cut short when someone in the crowd tossed a tear gas bomb onto the stage.

''It's not clear if that was the police or someone trying to censor him, but I think that's what made him do this,'' said Fernández, 33, who lives in Las Vegas. ``The last time I was with him, I told him to have patience, but he said, `I can't take this anymore. I can't sing anywhere. My music is everywhere, but I don't have a cent to buy something to eat.'''

Fernández, who was once part of the Cuban hip-hop group Clan 537, said he slipped into Cuba last month to work with Elvis Manuel on a song. Elvis Manuel tapes his music in a makeshift studio in DJ Jerry's small home in the Los Pinos neighborhood of Havana. As Elvis Manuel recorded his part into a battered microphone, cars and trucks rumbled by, a trio of dogs yapped just outside, and neighbors walking by stopped below the window to sing along as Elvis Manuel sang the chorus, Fernández said.

''He had to ask them to be quiet so he could finish recording,'' Fernández said. ``It's amazing the music he has been able to make under those conditions. The walls trembled when he sang.''

By 8 p.m. Friday a few dozen people gathered on the MacArthur Causeway outside the Coast Guard station for an evening vigil on Elvis Manuel's behalf.

Several of them laid white carnations on the guardrail as passing motorists honked in support.

Yanik Fenton, a spokeswoman for Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, said the Coast Guard told his office that Irioska María Nodarse, Elvis Manuel's mother, was aboard a cutter.

A Coast Guard spokesman, Dana Warr, would not confirm that information, following standard procedure in prior cases, but did confirm that a group of Cuban migrants had been picked up.

Diaz-Balart wrote a letter Friday to Emilio Gonzalez, head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, noting: ``Due to the special circumstances in this case, I respectfully request your assistance by not repatriating Elvis Manuel Martinez Nodarse and Irioska Martinez Nodarse to Cuba.''

If the Coast Guard finds Elvis Manuel, he would either be returned to Cuba or taken to the U.S. base in Guantánamo, Cuba, to press his case for political asylum.

MIGHT BE RELOCATED

He would be resettled to another country if he makes the case he would be persecuted if returned to Cuba.

Elvis Manuel is a recent addition to the Cuban reggaeton scene. He had two hits in Cuba last year, La Tuba and La Mulata.

Miami rapper Pitbull, who remixed one of Elvis Manuel's oversexed songs La Tuba into a club hit, said he met with some of Elvis Manuel's ''people'' about two weeks ago to discuss collaborating in Miami..

''It's unfortunate that people have to go to such lengths, especially someone so talented, to take advantage of freedom,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``It's a desperate quest, but he'll keep trying. This will all be part of his story, and it's all going to work out in the end.''

Miami Herald Staff writer Jordan Levin contributed to this article.