UN to hear testimony of foul play in Cuban dissident’s death
Angel Carromero, driver in the suspicious crash that killed legendary Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, to address UN Human Rights Council
Angel Carromero (inset) survived the crash that killed Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá
only to be accused by the Cuban government of vehicular homicide.GENEVA, June 16, 2014 – As world figures continue to call for an independent investigation into the July 2012 car crash that killed Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá, Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch is bringing Angel Carromero – the Spanish politician who drove the car that many allege was targeted by Cuban security agents – to testify before diplomats, rights activists and journalists at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Carromero’s first-ever presentation at the UN will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th, on a panel that will also featuring Cuban poet and former political prisoner Regis Iglesias.
UN Watch is organizing the event as part of a coalition of human rights groups that include the German NGO International Society for Human Rights, Iniciativa por Venezuela, Human Rights Foundation, Humano y Libre, and Directorio.
Last year, the U.S. government joined calls for an international investigation into the car crash in eastern Cuba that killed Payá and Harold Cepero, a fellow activist in the Christian Liberation Movement.
After the crash, Cuba blamed Carromero, claiming he accidentally slammed the car into a tree killing the two passengers. In a one-day trial, a Cuban court sentenced Carromero to four years in prison for vehicular homicide.
In December 2012, Carromero returned to his native Spain, where he was allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence, which has since been relaxed to allow his freedom of movement with an ankle monitor.
Carromero will testify how Cuban security forces coerced him into recording a video confession—and will instead reveal what really happened.
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“The Situation of Human Rights in Cuba—And What Really Happened to Oswaldo Payá”
Tuesday, 17 June 2014, UN Human Rights Council, Palais des Nations, Geneva
- Ángel Francisco Carromero Barrios, Spanish politician, driver of the car in deadly accident of Cuban democracy leader Oswaldo Payá
- Regis Iglesias, Cuban poet, arrested with 74 other dissidents during the notorious 2003 Black Spring crackdown, Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. Exiled to Spain in 2010, he is spokesman for the Christian Liberation Movement
- Janisset Rivero, Directorio Democratico Cubano
…an island on the net without a bearded dictator
