HAVANA -- Cuba's pardon of 300 inmates does not give the green light for unrestricted dissent, an official warned, even as activists expressed cautious hopes for greater political openness.

``The pardon was not made with the intention of stimulating activities of internal dissent,'' Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina said Sunday during a commemoration for sailors who died in the explosion of the battleship USS Maine 100 years ago.

By Monday, more than 100 prisoners had been released from jails throughout the island, according to spokesmen for several Cuban dissident groups. The massive releases -- they include dissidents and common criminals -- come in the wake of Cuba's announcement last Thursday that it was taking into account a Vatican request made during Pope John Paul II's visit to the island last month.

At least 45 political prisoners were among those freed since Friday morning in what Robaina called ``a respectful action'' toward the pope.

The dramatic opening for public religious worship during the papal visit, combined with the prisoner release, led some to hope that President Fidel Castro's communist government might now be more tolerant of political or social dissent.

``It is possible that the same thing will happen with society as with the church, that is achieve that there is flexibility,'' suggested Hector Palacios, one of the political prisoners freed Friday.

``I feel moderately optimistic,'' said Elizardo Sanchez, a human-rights activist who tracks political prisoners and spent more than eight years in prison himself.

But officials insist that respect for the pope does not mean an open field for dissidents, whom they accuse of being backed by anti-Cuban elements in the United States and other countries.

``He who returns to the street has the space that we all have in the street,'' Robaina said. ``This is the space to build a country, to participate in the country. Not a space to bend over for those who, from abroad, want to destroy the country.''