Both walked free after serving a little less than three years, including time spent behind bars before their sentence was handed down in the spring of 1999.

Felix Bonne Carcasses, one of the "Group of Four", has also been freed

Marta Beatriz Roque was released on 15 May after serving most of her sentence.

Vladimiro Roca, a former military fighter pilot and son of a revered Communist Party leader, is still in jail. Roca was sentenced to five years.

"We are happy," said Gomez Manzano.

"But we also hope that our happiness will be made complete and that our brother Vladimiro be granted and enjoy freedom as well."

The releases come a month after Cuba received a United Nations censure for human rights abuses.

Cuban officials have been enraged by the vote and have lambasted Poland and the Czech Republic, both former socialist allies, for proposing the censure.

Although the four were jailed in July 1997, they were not sentenced until March 1999.

They were arrested after they criticized a Communist Party document that they said did not give solutions to Cuba's severe economic problems, and held several rare news conferences with the foreign media to publicise their complaints.

The government accused the four dissidents of promoting aggressive US policies toward the communist nation and trying to harm the economy by discouraging foreign investment.

They were also accused of urging Cubans not to vote, urging foreign businessmen not to invest in Cuba and asking Cuban exiles to encourage relatives on the island to undertake acts of civil disobedience.