WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration reserved judgment Thursday on Cuba's announcement that it plans to release at least 200 prisoners, saying it has not yet determined who has been freed and under what terms.

Senior U.S. policymakers declined to comment on the move by Cuban President Fidel Castro or to predict whether it would merit a reciprocal gesture from Washington.

Key questions about the release are still to be answered, they said. Among them: Are the freed Cubans mostly political dissidents or are they common criminals? Will they be allowed to return to their normal lives or will they be forced into exile?

``At this time we do not know how many or whether any political prisoners are among those to be released,'' State Department spokesman Michael Haan said. ``We hope that the Cuban government will heed the Pope's call and release all political prisoners and permit their reintegration into Cuban society.''

Preliminary reports suggest that most of those freed are not political prisoners, said one U.S. official who is monitoring events.

If, however, the release includes a significant number of dissidents or other ``prisoners of conscience'' and they are allowed to resume their normal lives in Cuba, the administration would feel compelled to consider a U.S. response, the official said.

``Obviously, that would be something that would be serious,'' said the official, who declined to be identified because the U.S. response is still being formulated. ``We'd have to take a look at it.''

President Clinton has repeatedly expressed his interest in responding in a ``calibrated'' fashion to liberalizing steps by Castro, and he highlighted the Pope's visit as a likely catalyst.

``I think there ought to be a reciprocal relationship . . . where, as Cuba shows more support for democracy and human rights, we should open up, we should try some reciprocal effort, but it has to be reciprocal,'' Clinton said recently in New York.

The President has said he believes he would have the support of most of the Cuban exile community in taking such a reciprocal step.

``If there could be some signal that [Cuban officials] want to open up and change direction, then I think even the hardest-line people in the Congress, even the hardest-line people in Miami -- who are basically responsible for the policy -- would be open to a different approach,'' he said in October.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Miami Republican, said Thursday that Castro's move was part of an effort to ingratiate himself with the Pope, and should not be seen as a political opening.

``Castro uses political prisoners as trinkets, gifts to be bestowed upon visiting dignitaries,'' she said. ``If he releases 200 today, he'll arrest a thousand next month, when the media aren't looking.''

She urged the administration to forgo any friendly gestures.

``If the Clinton administration is looking for an excuse to loosen the embargo, I'm sure this will do,'' she said. ``But we shouldn't be fooled.''

Limited options

White House officials decline to say how they might respond to a meaningful gesture from Castro. Their options are limited: Most aspects of the 36-year trade ban against Cuba were codified into law in 1996 and require an act of Congress to change.

The President could, however, lift the ban on direct U.S. flights to Cuba, which was imposed by executive order after Cuban air force jets shot down two unarmed civilian planes flown by Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, killing the four pilots.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops called for a resumption of direct U.S. flights, saying it would ease the flow of humanitarian donations and assist family visits. Four Democratic members of Congress from Massachusetts who traveled to Havana to see Pope John Paul II issued a similar appeal to national security adviser Sandy Berger.

But a White House official said Thursday that the resumption of direct flights is not under consideration.

Travel restrictions

Another possible U.S. response could be a presidential decision to liberalize travel to the island by redefining the categories of Americans who are allowed to visit Cuba with minimal interference from the U.S. Treasury Department. Currently only U.S. officials, journalists, clerics, exiles with family in Cuba and certain academics may travel to Cuba virtually unimpeded.

The Cuban American National Foundation, working in concert with Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., may provide another potential response. A draft proposal, which has yet to be submitted to Congress, calls for the delivery of U.S. food aid and medical assistance to be distributed to Cuba's needy through a neutral body, such as Roman Catholic relief services.

The plan has drawn mixed reactions from Miami exiles, and in its earliest form has been summarily rejected by Castro. It seeks to maintain the U.S. embargo while addressing the issue of humanitarian need.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said this week that she is studying that proposal and a second bill, which would amend the embargo to lift the ban on sales of food and medicine to the island.