BY FRANCES ROBLES

 The talk in Washington was of Juan Miguel Gonzalez -- not just his politics or his custody battle for his son
 Elian -- but his finger.

 His middle one. And how he used it to offer an unfriendly salute to the few Cuban-American protesters
 who have heckled him since his arrival a week ago.

 Gonzalez stepped onto the porch of the gated Cuban Interests Section on Thursday morning while the press
 interviewed one of his visitors. A small group of protesters across the street shouted: ``Your son is
 here!'' He looked toward them, elevated his arm, lifted his hand, and raised his finger, too.

 But not everyone who saw it was convinced it was his middle finger, or that it was intended to be menacing
 and obscene.

 ``To be honest, when I saw it, I thought it was his index finger,'' said Jorge Rodriguez, 24, a Georgetown University Law student from Miami, who has spent the past week protesting at the Cuban Interests Section.

 ``I thought he meant, wait up or No. 1. But then my friends said, `Look at that, he just gave us the finger!' ''

 A Miami Herald photo clearly shows Gonzalez holding up his middle finger.

 None of Gonzalez's representatives was available Thursday to shed light on the gesture. Cuban Interests Section spokesman Luis Fernandez did not return a telephone message and lawyer Gregory B. Craig did not mention it during a
 statement to the press.

 ``It's hard to say,'' Rodriguez said. ``If he did, whatever. He's been told horrible things about us. It's worse for him.''