MIAMI -- The Elian Gonzalez case rushed toward an uncertain future Thursday, with his Cuban father apparently ready to jump on a plane to retrieve him and talks between the U.S. government and the boy's Miami relatives ending with only a promise to meet again.
Late Wednesday the Immigration and Naturalization Service did delay the revocation of Elian's temporary residency status 24 hours until 9 a.m. Friday.But it was clear that the INS and the boy's relatives remained at an impasse over the government's demand that they agree to surrender Elian if they lose their court fight to keep him.
The two sides met for five hours Wednesday, and more talks were scheduled Thursday.
At her weekly news conference Thursday, Attorney General Janet Reno reiterated that the Clinton administration would try to be patient amid the clamor over custody of the boy.
"It is a community I was born in, and raised in," she said of Miami. "It's a community I love, and when it's hurting, it hurts me."
Elian has been living her with his great-uncle Lazaro Gonzalez since he was found in November on an inner tube off the coast of Florida. The boy's mother and 10 others died when their boat sank as they tried to reach the United States.
The governments of both nations want the boy returned to his father in Cuba, a plan that has stirred threats of civil disobedience from Miami's large Cuban population. The Miami relatives went to court to keep Elian, and their lawsuit is now before a federal appeals court in Atlanta, with arguments scheduled for the week of May 8.
Reno noted that "we have been engaged in conversation, and we are continuing conversation in Miami to try to work out a resolution to ensure that an appeal is heard in a timely way. And nothing will be done to return Elian if that happens, and everybody agrees that they will abide by the ruling that comes down."
INS spokeswoman Maria Cardona said the agency will tell the boy's great-uncle how and when he is to relinquish custody of Elian unless the two sides reach an agreement. She refused to discuss details.
Lazaro Gonzalez has said he would be willing to release Elian to his father if Juan Miguel Gonzalez came to Florida from Cuba. He said he would not deliver the boy to the INS.
"The boy lives in my house, and they'll have to go find him there," Lazaro Gonzalez told the Spanish-language network Telemundo.
On Wednesday, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announced that the boy's father was ready to travel to the United States "immediately." He said the trip was conditional on guarantees that the U.S. government would turn Elian over to his father or try its best to do so.
It was the first time anyone has said the boy's father would be willing to stay in the United States during the legal process.
"The passports are ready," Castro said. "And, of course, the airplane is ready."
State Department officials said that they had not received a visa request from the boy's father.
About 1,000 people rallied in the Little Havana neighborhood around Elian's house in a prayer vigil late Wednesday.
At one point, Elian was brought outside, riding on the shoulders of a family friend. As he smiled and waved his arms, the crowd cheered and chanted "Elian! Elian!"
"The family will stay with Elian until the last minute," family spokesman Armando Gutierrez told the crowd.
Some demonstrators have talked of forming a human chain and laying down their lives to prevent the boy from being taken away.
"The federal authorities of INS need to understand that we are free and this is a country of laws, and we are not going to accept their stubbornness. We are not going to allow them to take the kid," said Oscar Pupo, 56, a Cuban-born U.S. citizen.
On the net: INS: www.ins.usdoj.gov
Miami relatives: libertyforelian.org
Coverage by Cuban newspaper www.granma.cu