By Tom Raum, .c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, 26 (AP) - The grandmothers of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez are ready to head to Florida for a government-ordered session with the Cuban boy while political maneuvering intensifies over legislation to make him a U.S. citizen.
The two women made an impassioned appeal to Congress on Tuesday not to pass such a bill, saying Elian was a Cuban citizen and belonged with his father and them in Cuba.
``It's our right to see our grandson and take him back home,'' Mariela Quintana, the child's paternal grandmother, said during a visit to Capitol Hill.
They won't be able to do that at today's session with Elian in Miami Beach, however. The meeting, planned for 4 p.m. EST, was set as just a visit by the Immigration and Naturalization Service after efforts by the grandmothers to see their grandson in Miami on Monday fell through.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque demanded during a visit to Moscow today that the boy be returned, accusing the United States of violating his human rights. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also has endorsed the idea of returning the boy.
Despite no prospect of taking Elian with them, his Cuban grandmothers still looked forward to the visit.
``I don't know if I'll cry or if I'll laugh'' when seeing Elian for the first time in more than two months, Raquel Rodriquez, Elian's maternal grandmother, told CNN Tuesday after the INS ruling.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, said today the grandmothers recalled in their meeting with lawmakers that when Elian was rescued from the Atlantic on Nov. 25, ``he was able to give his father's name and telephone number.''
One of the father's relatives, Jackson Lee said on ABC's ``Good Morning America,'' called another relative ``and said go to the hospital and take care of him overnight and make sure he gets back home.''
President Clinton supported the grandmother's cause, hinting he might veto the citizenship legislation if it passes. And those in the Senate seeking Elian's repatriation to Cuba suggested they might use delaying tactics, including a filibuster, to keep the Senate from debating the measure.
``The idea that the Senate and the House of Representatives is going to determine the fate of a 6-year-old is pathetic,'' said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.
Elian belongs with his father and grandmothers, Dodd said. ``We can have good families in bad countries,'' he said after a meeting with the grandmothers. ``This is a good family.''
The snowstorm that gripped Washington, as well as much of the Atlantic seaboard, and the rising combativeness of those opposing the citizenship bill prompted Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., to put off trying to bring the measure up until next week.
Lott earlier had said it could come up as early as today.
That same snowstorm also was making it unclear exactly when the grandmothers would be able to leave for Miami Beach, since Washington-area airports were mostly shut down Tuesday. The grandmothers and their representatives said they would leave at the first opportunity.
The INS, which is part of the Justice Department, announced late Tuesday that Elian's Florida family had agreed to today's visit. Earlier in the day the INS had said it had the authority to order the family to agree to the meeting under the arrangement by which the boy has been allowed to stay
in this country pending further immigration proceedings.
``The meeting will take place at the time and site selected by the Immigration Service,'' Justice spokeswoman Carole Florman said.
Florman said the government had reassured the relatives that today's session at the Miami Beach home of the president of a Dominican college would be just a visit and would not result in Elian's being taken back to Cuba.
The grandmothers will see Elian privately, but the boy's Florida relatives will be nearby in the house at the time, Florman said.
In Miami, the lead attorney for Elian's relatives, Spencer Eig, said, ``Elian has stated that he's a little bit afraid to go all by himself because he's afraid they might be forced to take him back to Cuba.''
He said today's visit was expected to last two hours and called the INS ``heavy handed'' in its dealings.
The INS has ruled that the boy should be returned to his father in Cuba. Elian's Florida relatives have challenged the order in federal court.
The boy was found clinging to a life preserver in the Atlantic on Nov. 25 after his mother and 10 others died when their boat sank en route from Cuba to the United States.
The two grandmothers made the rounds of Capitol Hill on Tuesday, meeting with legislators sympathetic to their wish to have Elian returned to Cuba and their opposition to congressionally imposed citizenship on Elian.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., said the grandmothers told them Elian's mother was on the ill-fated boat not to flee Castro's oppression but because of pressure from her boyfriend.
``We asked some rather pointed questions,'' Hagel said. ``She was forced on that boat.''
Versions of the citizenship bill are before both the House and the Senate.
The measure, drafted by members of the Florida congressional delegation, would confer U.S. citizenship on Elian, thus removing the INS jurisdiction from the case.
AP-NY-01-26-00 1104EST
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