Charges against two alleged Cuban terrorist were dismissed in court yesterday after prosecutors, for the fifth time, failed to present their case.

Humberto Lopez, jr. and Luis Crespo, identified by police as activists for the Cuban National Liberation Front (FLNC) had charges dismissed by county judge Edmund Newbold, who said he had no choice.

Lopez and Crespo, charged with illegal possession of explosives, had been critically injured March 20 when a bomb they were making exploded in the garage of a Little Havana home, police said. The bomb, police said, was to have been placed inside a hollowed-out book, destination unknown.

Crespo, who lost both hands in the explosion, and Lopez, who lost one hand and one eye, showed little emotion at the judge's ruling. They were accompanied by their wives and lawyer Melvyn Greenspahn.

"These men have been through hell," Greenspahn said. Lopez and Crespo, eyeing a newsman with suspicion, refused to talk.

Dismissal of the charges, Greenspahn said, does not automatically mean the two men will not be prosecuted.

The state attorney general's office, the lawyer said, may choose to file a "direct information" against Lopez and Crespo, bypassing the need for a preliminary hearing and sending the case directly to criminal court.

Terry DeMeo, assistant state attorney, said she will confer with police investigators next week to see if there is enough evidence to go the direct-information route.

The first preliminary hearing against Lopez and Crespo had been scheduled March 29, nine days after their arrest. Both men were hospitalized in critical condition at the time, and the hearing was postponed until May 24.

Ms. DeMeo said the hearings were postponed again on that date and on May 31, June 7, and June 25 at the request of, or at least with the consent of, the state.

Yesterday, Ms. DeMeo asked for another continuance because a police officer scheduled to testify was on vacation. Judge Newbold refused, saying he had warned the prosecution to be ready to proceed yesterday.

According to Ms. DeMeo, it is not unusual during the summer to have cases continued because witnesses are on vacation or otherwise unavailable. But she said the repeated postponements in the Cuban's case constituted an "extreme circumstance."

Before yesterday's hearing , both Lopez and Crespo had police records on illegal possession of weapons. Lopez was arrested in July of 1973 when police confiscated four hand grenades, a 60mm mortar, two M14 rifles, a silencer-equipped submachine gun, a 50mm cannon, a 60mm cannon and four cases of ammunition in his home.

Crespo was arrested in 1970 with a large cache of submachine guns, a mortar and several thousands rounds of ammunition. Both were sentenced to probation on those charges.

In Lopez's case, federal charges were added to those filed by the state. Greenspahn said Lopez's case is scheduled to be heard soon by U.S. District Court Judge Joe Eaton.