Herald Staff Report

 HAVANA -- Juan Miguel González was decorated as a national hero here Wednesday
 night, for his ``extraordinary'' behavior during the seven-month battle to return his son Elián to
 Cuba.

 The honor came one day after the government took 6-year-old Elián to his hometown of
 Cárdenas for a swim with his family and a visit with his classmates -- an attempt to show the
 little boy that he was really back in Cuba after his stay in the United States.

 According to a Cuban government statement Wednesday, Elián asked his father days after
 his arrival on the island last week: When will we travel to Cuba?

 The little boy was confused, the Cuban daily Granma explained, because for Elián
 Cuba is Cárdenas -- a two-hour drive from the waterfront Havana mansion where
 he has been studying and staying with his family since he arrived from
 Washington, D.C., on June 28.

 The report sparked debate among Cubans here, where news of Elián's activities
 has been sparse.

 Not once since his arrival has Cuban TV showed the Miramar residence where he
 has been staying.

 ``The boy still doesn't know where he is. He's in the clouds,'' said Ramón
 Menéndez, 50, a Havana shoe repairman, who believes the boy needs this time of
 rest away from everyday life.

 ``He's still traumatized,'' said Francisco Molina, who runs El Vedado fruit stand.

 Jorge Ramírez, a central Havana doctor, speculated there might be another
 reason: Elián's life since he returned to Cuba has been similar to the way he lived
 in the United States, in a highly secured compound with luxury goods.

 ``He can't see the difference between the U.S. and Cuba,'' Ramírez said.

 Ramírez, like hundreds of Cubans, stood in line Wednesday morning to buy a
 copy of a special edition tabloid called: Elián in the Homeland -- 32 pages of
 analysis and reports of the seven-month battle to return the boy.

 ``I think now, from this moment on, the United States government will respect us
 even more and will believe that it is a fraud to give . . . unconditional approval to
 the mafia,'' an opening column read. The Cuban government refers to exiles in
 Miami as the ``mafia.''

 The report shed little light on Elián's new life. And although Cuban journalists
 interviewed psychologists who had dissected the boy's mental state from afar,
 none could say how the boy was doing now.

 ``Simply, no one knows . . . how he is after his kidnappers were trying for 140
 days to change his mind,'' an editorial note said.

 Though the tabloid was full of pictures, including 17 of Elián shot during his stay
 in Miami, none showed him smiling. Also notably missing in the detailed report is
 the famous Associated Press photo of a federal agent pointing a gun at Elián
 during the April 22 raid in Little Havana.

 The report did have a column thanking Cuban president Fidel Castro for leading
 the campaign to ``liberate Elián,'' and biographies of the other players in the case.

 The tabloid described them this way:

   Elián's cousin Marisleysis González, a onetime bank officer, who with all the
 attention could be an aspiring Miss Universe candidate.

   Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin, an emissary of the ``devil.''

   Cuban American National Foundation leader Jorge Mas Santos, who, the report
 said, could be categorized in two words: political defeat.

 Also profiled in the section was Juan Miguel González, who at a 9 p.m.
 Wednesday ceremony at Havana's Karl Marx theater received the award named
 for Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the ``Father of the Homeland'' who led the first
 Cuban war of independence.

 The report portrayed González as a humble man of few words. His battle is
 described as one of good over evil, truth over lies.

 The error of Elián's great-uncle Lázaro González ``was to believe his nephew Juan
 Miguel had a price, as [Lázaro] does. The mafia's error was to believe that all men
 have a price like Lázaro,'' the report said.