Spanish activist jailed over Cuba deaths

Published on 16/10/2012 01:04

A SPANISH political activist has been sentenced to four years in prison for the deaths of prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya and a colleague in a July car crash.

Angel Carromero, a leader of the youth wing of Spain’s ruling People’s Party, was found guilty of manslaughter by reckless driving in the accident that dealt a blow to Cuba’s opposition community.

Mr Paya, 60, was a leader among Cuba’s dissidents and in 2002 was awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for human rights for his Varela Project, a campaign to reform Cuba’s one-party political system.

Carromero, 26, was driving near Bayamo on 22 July when he lost control and slammed sideways into a tree. Mr Paya and fellow dissident Harold Cepero, 31, both in the back seat, were killed.