BY KEVIN GRAY
 Associated Press

 HAVANA -- A Homestead man returned home without his 5-year-old son
 Thursday, forced to leave him behind with his mother despite a happy reunion in
 Cuba -- and anticipating a long court fight for custody.

 Jon Colombini said son Jonathon was ``grinning ear to ear'' to see him during a
 visit this week, but added that he believes the youngster would be better off in
 America.

 ``My point is that I want him in the United States,'' he said. ``Had he never known
 it, that'd be one thing. But he knows what it's like to live that life. I want him to
 know his brother, his uncle and all his family.''

 Colombini's ex-wife, Arletis Blanco, fled South Florida Nov. 12 on a 21-foot fishing
 boat bound for Cuba accompanied by her son, boyfriend Agustin Lemus and their
 infant daughter.

 After three days of visits with Blanco and Jonathon, Colombini said Thursday the
 couple had not been able to resolve their differences. The case now appears
 headed for a lengthy custody battle.

 ``It's hard to say whether I believe it can be resolved or not without that fight,'' he
 said. ``I want to believe so.''

 Colombini said his ex-wife refused to let him see the child away from the house
 and ruled out overnight visitations. So Colombini timed his visits for after school,
 traveling 90 minutes every day from downtown Havana to a one-story bungalow in
 the Cuban countryside where Jonathon now lives.

 He said he found his son in good spirits and that Jonathon smiled sheepishly
 when he occasionally mixed Spanish and English. Jonathon, he said, never
 asked why they hadn't seen each other in more than a month.

 ``I'm sure there are a lot of things going through his head,'' Colombini said. ``But I
 didn't bring it up, and he didn't mention it.''

 While Colombini admitted relief that Jonathon seemed happy riding horses in the
 country and playing with his new classmates, he said he believes an American
 life is best for the child.

 Colombini, a 31-year-old restaurant kitchen manager, has said he and his ex-wife
 share custody of Jonathon. That status would prohibit the boy's mother from
 taking him out of Florida.

 Telephone calls seeking comment from Blanco's lawyer in Cuba were not
 immediately returned.

 Colombini said he pressed his case before high-ranking Cuban officials during
 meetings in Havana.

 His lawyer, Michael Berry, said he has emphasized to Cuban authorities that a
 U.S. court order has granted Colombini temporary custody of the child. Berry said
 the officials were ``attentive and cooperative.''

 Since returning to Cuba, Blanco, 29, has been living in the western province of
 Pinar del Rio, where she has said she hopes to begin life anew with her family.

 She fled the United States while under investigation by Florida authorities on
 embezzlement charges.

 ``I think she got caught up in some things she couldn't control,'' Colombini said,
 refusing to elaborate further.

 Berry called Blanco's actions ``poor judgment'' and said it is evidence that the boy
 should be raised by his father.

 The case is complicated by the fact that Cuba and the United States have no
 diplomatic relations and do not share an extradition treaty covering such cases.

 ``There is no road map,'' Berry said. ``This case calls for spontaneous activity as
 things evolve.''

 The case, dubbed ``Reverse Elián'' by Florida media, has brought inevitable
 comparisons to the saga of Elián González, the boy who was taken from Cuba to
 Florida without his father's permission and later returned to his homeland after a
 protracted custody battle.

 There are notable similarities between the two cases: Both Elián and Jonathon
 were 5 when they crossed the treacherous Florida Straits in boats, and both
 cases centered on 31-year-old fathers who desperately wanted their sons back.