Elian's departure plans being set, but can he leave?

WASHINGTON - Elian Gonzalez may be heading back to Cuba as early as Wednesday night for the first time in seven months. Assuming the Supreme Court gives the green light, his return home will attract a lot more attention than his departure.

Barring an adverse court ruling, Elian would be free to leave U.S. soil for Cuba by 4 p.m. EDT, and tentative plans were being made for a nighttime arrival in Havana aboard a chartered flight from Washington Dulles International Airport.

Elian would be accompanied back home to Cuba by his family and an entourage of Cuban compatriots, including classmates who joined him here in April.

But the departure plans would have to be put on hold if the Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal by Elian's Miami relatives seeking a political asylum hearing for the 6-year-old boy.

Cuban officials said the departure plans were being coordinated by Gregory Craig, the lawyer for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez.

Elian, just another Cuban boy last November, has since become an international celebrity. He barely survived a perilous boat journey from Cuba that claimed the life of his mother, and since his rescue from the Atlantic Ocean on Thanksgiving Day he has been at the center of a bitter custody battle between his father in Cuba and his Cuban-American relatives in Miami.

For President Fidel Castro, getting Elian out of the clutches of his powerful adversary has been a No. 1 priority.

Elian has become a rallying point for anti-Castro sentiments in the United States, particularly in Miami's Cuban exile neighborhoods. He stayed with his Miami relatives until federal agents seized him on April 22 and turned him over to his father in Washington pending the court appeals.

Elian may be in the dark as to what may await him today.

The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, former general secretary of the National Council of Churches and a staunch supporter of Juan Miguel Gonzalez, said Tuesday she believed the father has been careful not to promise his son when he might be returning home.

''My overwhelming impression is that no one is talking to him about going home'' yet, she said. ''I don't think his father is going to talk about this until they're sure they're going.''

On Monday, attorneys for the relatives asked Justice Anthony M. Kennedy to block Elian's departure so the full Supreme Court could address the issue. Kennedy is responsible for dealing with cases from the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, which ruled last week that Elian should be allowed to leave on Wednesday.

Lawyers for the Miami relatives have argued that a few weeks' delay in the long legal fight over the boy is a small cost in a case with stakes of such magnitude.

All along, the Miami relatives have said the immigration service erred in not granting Elian the right to apply for political asylum.

Immigration officials have consistently maintained that the desire of Elian's father to repatriate the boy to Cuba must be respected, a position backed by a succession of court rulings.

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On the Net: State Department:

http://www.state.gov/www/regions/wha/index.html

Cuban newspaper Granma: http://www.granma.cu