Late Cuban dissident's family blames government for death

Late Cuban dissident's family blames government for death
AFP October 7, 2012, 11:50 am

BAYAMO, Cuba (AFP) - The Cuban government is to blame for the death of
human rights activist Oswaldo Paya, family members said Saturday as they
called for the acquittal of the Spaniard charged in the case.

At a trial that began Friday, prosecutors have requested a seven-year
jail term for Angel Carromero over the July 22 car crash that killed
Paya, an award-winning pro-democracy dissident.

"I think (Spaniard Angel) Carromero should be acquitted. I don't believe
the charges brought against him, nor do I believe the government's
story," Paya's widow Ofelia Acevedo told AFP as she visited the site
where her husband lost his life.

"He is innocent," Acevedo said of Carromero, who was driving when her
husband's car hit a tree in an accident that killed the activist but not
Carromero, 26, or Swedish activist Jens Aron Modig, 27.

Another Cuban dissident Harold Cepero, 31, was also killed in the crash.

Paya's daughter Rosa Maria Paya, and her brothers Osvaldo and Reinaldo
are seeking an international investigation into the death of their
father. He had won the European Parliament's top human rights award, the
2002 Sakharov prize, for opposing the Americas' only one-party Communist
regime.

"My impression from this poorly run circus (of a trial) is that they
(the government) have a lot to hide," charged an emotional Rosa Maria Paya.

The Paya family said they wanted to speak with Carromero but were barred
from doing so.

Cuban authorities say the Spaniard was behind the wheel, driving above
the speed limit, when his rental car hit an unpaved section of road
outside Bayamo, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and crash
into a tree, claiming the life of one of the government's leading foes.

President Raul Castro's government has drawn intense criticism from
dissidents about the high-profile Paya case, and it has not taken the
jibes lightly.

Shortly before the start of the trial, Cuban authorities detained
celebrated dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez and her husband, who had
traveled to Bayamo to write about the proceedings, for about 30 hours.
All media in Cuba are state-controlled.

"We are grateful to everybody who has raised their voices and their
tweets so that we could return home," Sanchez said in a tweet after she
was set free.

Sanchez, 37, began commenting on daily life in Cuba on her Generacion Y
blog in 2007, but ran foul of the regime for criticizing Fidel and Raul
Castro.

Last week, Sanchez filed a complaint against Cuba with the
Inter-American Human Rights Commission for repeatedly refusing her
permission to leave the country, according to her attorney, who said she
has been unable to leave Cuba since 2007 although she has requested
permission to do so on some 20 occasions.

At the trial here Friday, Isabel Barzaga of the Interior Ministry said
Carromero, who was at the wheel of the car at the moment of the crash,
was "frankly a reckless person."

"It was not an isolated lapse," Barzaga continued. "It is normal
behavior for him. He behaves like a rule breaker." Earlier, Carromero
denied that he was speeding at the time of the accident.

Dressed in a white shirt and beige slacks, Carromero, who runs the youth
wing of Spain's conservative ruling Popular Party, told the court he
felt "profound sorrow for the unfortunate accident that took place."

Madrid's consul general to Havana, who was at the courthouse Friday,
said he was "optimistic" about the outcome of the trial.

"We're hoping for justice. Let's see what happens," said Tomas Rodriguez
Pantoja.

Dissidents said that on Thursday, on the eve of Carromero's trial, Cuban
authorities detained 42 opposition activists, including opposition
leader Guillermo Farinas, in the city of Santa Clara.

A spokesman for the group, Ramon Jimenez, said they were freed several
hours later.

Farinas, 50, famous for having staged numerous hunger strikes, was
arrested along with the others as he was heading to a meeting, his
mother Alicia Hernandez told AFP.
Like Paya, who died in July's crash, Farinas is a past winner of the
prestigious Sakharov prize.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/15053524/late-cuban-dissidents-family-blames-government-for-death/