**Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo has died in hospital after 85 days on hunger strike, hospital and opposition sources say.**Mr Zapata, 42, had been admitted to Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras hospital after his condition deteriorated.
Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience after his arrest in March 2003.
He had been involved in a protest to demand the release of political prisoners in Cuba.
He died between 1530 and 1600 local time (2030-2100 GMT) on Tuesday, Efe news agency reports.
One of the main US Spanish-language dailies, El Nuevo Herald, says his death marks the first time in nearly 40 years a Cuban activist starved himself to death to protest against government abuses.
His mother, Reina Luisa Tamayo, told the paper by telephone that her son had been “murdered” by Cuba’s authorities.
“They managed to do what they wanted,” she said. "They ended the life of a fighter for human rights.‘’
According to the paper, the last political prisoner to die on hunger strike in Cuba was Pedro Luis Boitel, a poet and student leader, who died in 1972.