The World - News from Jan. 26, 1987

A Soviet Jew long denied an exit visa was given permission to join his family in the United States only days before a planned hunger strike, his son said. Lev Blitshtein, 56, called from Moscow to tell his family in Manalapan, N.J., that his application has been granted, his son, Boris Blitshtein, said. The father and his 80-year-old mother are expected to arrive in the United States in about two weeks. Blitshtein’s visa requests had been turned down on the basis of his knowledge about the Soviet meat-packing and storage industry. Because the industry is state-run, the government often considers such information a state secret.