HAVANA (AP) -- In an unusually bold public protest, about 25 Cuban
                  dissidents went on a hunger strike Monday to demand freedom of
                  expression and the release of scores of people they described as political
                  prisoners.

                  "We are calling this public protest to draw attention to the violation of human
                  rights in Cuba and to ask for the freedom of all political prisoners," said Dr.
                  Oscar Elias Biscet, who hunger strikers said was the lead organizer of the
                  protest. "There is no freedom of expression or of association in Cuba."

                  Standing in the front room of an apartment plastered with black and white
                  posters of Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi and even the late
                  Cuban-American exile leader Jorge Mas Canosa, the hunger strikers said
                  most of them were prepared to live only on water and other liquids for up to
                  40 days.

                  "We are willing to face whatever is necessary for something as beautiful as
                  freedom," said Marcos Lazaro Torres Leon, acknowledging that he and the
                  others faced almost certain arrest. "Because to live without freedom is not to
                  live at all."

                  It was the boldest demonstration by Cuba's often-timid opposition since a
                  coalition of dissident leaders held a news conference with foreign journalists
                  two years ago. Those four recently were convicted on sedition charges and
                  sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to five years.

                  Cuban government's response

                  There was no immediate response from the government to the latest protest.

                  "The Foreign Ministry has no knowledge of this event," said Foreign Ministry
                  spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez, among the few officials allowed to respond to
                  reporters queries.

                  The communist government says there are no political prisoners in Cuba and
                  denies that the government violates human rights. The opposition groups
                  involved in the hunger strike are banned under Cuban law.

                  Dissidents say they're not alone

                  Most protesters wore T-shirts with either an anti-abortion message or a list of
                  people they identified as prisoners of conscience. They said that dissidents in
                  other communities around Cuba were holding similar protests.

                  Rarely do Cuba's dissident groups work together or do more than issue an
                  occasional statement. The last time opposition members called foreign
                  journalists for a news conference, one dissident group attacked another,
                  accusing it of not sharing funds donated by groups outside Cuba.

                  "This is an extraordinary event, because we are united," said Carlos Alberto
                  Dominguez, of the 30th of November Democratic Party.

                  Other groups involved are the Martiana Civic League, named for
                  independence hero Jose Marti; the National Civic Union; Naturpaz, an
                  ecological group; and the Lawton Foundation, named for the Havana
                  neighborhood where its was formed.