Down1
23rd July 2012, 05:20 AM
Prominent Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya has died in a car crash, according to fellow activists.
Mr Paya, 60, was travelling near the city of Bayamo, in the eastern province of Granma, when the accident happened, they said.
He is known as the founder of the Varela Project - a campaign to gather signatures in support of a referendum on laws guaranteeing civil rights.
He was seen as a key spokesman for Cuba's small opposition.
A Catholic church official in Bayamo told AFP that a local hospital had told him and other activists that Mr Paya was dead, and had shown them identification.
His death was reported on Twitter by prominent dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who described him as "irreproachable" and his death as a great loss to Cuba.
The circumstances of the accident are still unclear. A usually well-informed pro-government blogger says Mr Paya's car crashed into a tree, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Cuba.
A state media website said there had been a "regrettable traffic accident" that killed two Cubans, while two other people, one Swede and one Spaniard, were injured.
Oswaldo Paya's death comes after another prominent Cuban dissident, Laura Pollan, founder of the protest group Ladies in White, died last October.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18949685
Mr Paya, 60, was travelling near the city of Bayamo, in the eastern province of Granma, when the accident happened, they said.
He is known as the founder of the Varela Project - a campaign to gather signatures in support of a referendum on laws guaranteeing civil rights.
He was seen as a key spokesman for Cuba's small opposition.
A Catholic church official in Bayamo told AFP that a local hospital had told him and other activists that Mr Paya was dead, and had shown them identification.
His death was reported on Twitter by prominent dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who described him as "irreproachable" and his death as a great loss to Cuba.
The circumstances of the accident are still unclear. A usually well-informed pro-government blogger says Mr Paya's car crashed into a tree, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Cuba.
A state media website said there had been a "regrettable traffic accident" that killed two Cubans, while two other people, one Swede and one Spaniard, were injured.
Oswaldo Paya's death comes after another prominent Cuban dissident, Laura Pollan, founder of the protest group Ladies in White, died last October.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18949685