The World - News from Feb. 1, 1989

About 80 prisoners on a weeklong hunger strike were badly beaten by guards at Cuba’s biggest jail last week, human rights activists said in Havana. The incident at the Combinado del Este jail, on the eastern outskirts of Havana, pitted guards armed with truncheons and steel bars against inmates jailed for attempting to leave the country illegally, according to a letter distributed by the activists to foreign reporters. The inmates were seeking prisoner-of-conscience status and the right to receive mail and to have regular family visits, among other demands, the letter said. Government officials were not available for comment, but they routinely refuse to answer queries on such matters.