Cuba Archive - Case 430

Case ID: 430

Title: N/A

First name: Oswaldo José

Last name: Payá Sardiñas

Suffix: N/A

Aliases: N/A

Name also reported as: N/A

Age: 60

Gender: Male

Date of Birth: Day:29 / Month:2 / Year:1952

Civil Status: Unknown

Date of death/disappearance: Day:22 / Month:7 / Year:2012

Citizenship: N/A

Last known address: Peñón 221, entre Ayuntamiento y Monasterio, El Cerro

Last known city: Havana

Last known province-TOD: Ciudad de La Habana

Last known province current: Ciudad de La Habana

Last known country: Cuba

Location death-address: Km. 724, rural road, Finca La Gabina

Location of death - city: Las Tunas, Bayamo (Municipio Río Cauto)

Location of death province - at TOD: Granma

Location of death province - current: Granma

Location of death - country: Cuba

Trial held?: No

Docket Number: N/A

Sentence details: N/A

Arrest or detention at time of death: N/A

Date of arrest: N/A

Imprisoned/Detained: Location: N/A

How long imprisoned/detained: N/A

Death attributed to: Castro regime

Death attribution detail: Agents of State Security

Associated Event: N/A

Case description:

Cuba's foremost dissident leader and founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, killed with Harold Cepero, young member of his movement, in or after a car accident.  They were riding in a car with two foreigners (a Spaniard and a Swede) in a desolate road of the eastern province of Granma seeking to investigate a reported cholera outbreak. The Cuban government insists their car was speeding and hit a tree. The driver, Angel Carromero, a lawyer and adviser of the Partido Popular in the municipality of Madrid, Spain, was sentenced to 4 years of prison for the homicide in a trial lacking due process of law that the victims' families were not allowed to attend. On December 29, 2012, a year and a half after his arrest and sentencing in Cuba, Carromero was allowed to leave for Spain to finish serving his sentence there as part of a negotiation with the Spanish government. Once in Spain, he indicated he had been threatened and intimidated by Cuban authorities to support the "official version" but insisted the car he was driving had been forced off the road by a car that had been in their pursuit. Both foreigners had each faced long years of prison for violations to Cuba's national security and immigration laws. Payá's family and supporters have called for an independent investigation. Whereas the driver and front passenger were unhurt, Payá's body had a crushed skull, a wound to the cheek, and bruises to the face (he had been sitting behind the driver). Witnesses had heard that Cepero had arrived at the hospital with a broken hip, but friends were not allowed to see him and he was pronounced dead several hours later. Independent autopsies were not allowed. The death certificates of both victims do not cite Cause of Death and autopsy reports have not been provided to the families despite repeated official requests. A study of the photos released by Cuba of the car in the accident, conducted by the Varela Academy of Sciences of Miami concluded that it had been moved from the site and that the crash could not have happened as reported. A study of the photos released by Cuba of the car in the accident, conducted by the Varela Academy of Sciences of Miami concluded that it had been moved from the site and that the crash could not have happened as reported.  In March 2018, Cuba's Ministry of Justice denied the Payá family a review of the case and examination of the car involved in the accident. The only document given to Paya's family by the authorities was a handwritten piece of paper, issued by Havana’s medical examiner’s office, stating Oswaldo Payá’s cause of death as “damage to the nervous system.”  In March 2018 Cuba's Ministry of Justice denied the Payá family a review of the case and examination of the car involved in the accident. A 2015 investigation by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation concluded that the alleged accident did not occur as per the official version and that the best available evidence strongly suggested direct government responsibility for Payá's death. The Swede passenger of the car, Jens Aron Modig, leader of the Swedish Christian Democratic Youth, had sent text messages to Sweden indicating they had been forced off the road by a car that had been following and attacking them. Modig was released after several days in isolation and detention and flew back to Sweden, claiming he had no memory of anything. 
Payá had been awarded the Sakharov prize by the European Parliament in 2002, had two juris doctorates, one from Columbia University and one from University of Miami, and been nominated six times for the Nobel Peace Prize.  He had organized the Varela Project, a signature-gathering initiative to request reforms in Cuba through mechanisms established in the Communist Constitution. Many members of this initiative had been sentenced to long years of prison in 2003. Payá and his family had long suffered harassment and threats from authorities seeking to intimidate him into ceasing his political opposition activities to the Cuban regime. He left a wife and three children (young adults).
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Payá, el principal líder disidente de Cuba, murió junto con Harold Cepero, miembro de su movimiento, al chocar el auto en que viajaban en un camino desolado del oriente de la isla. El gobierno lo reportó oficialmente como un accidente. Viajaban con dos extranjeros que resultaron ilesos que fueron amenazados con largos años de prisión por violaciones a las leyes cubanas. El conductor, un abogado español, fue condenado a 4 años de prisión por homicidio en un juicio sin debido proceso legal. Un año y medio después se le permitió salir de Cuba para terminar de cumplir su condena en España. Negó la "versión oficial" de que había chocado contra un árbol cuando viajaba a exceso de velocidad e insistió en que otro automóvil que los perseguía los había sacado de la carretera. El otro pasajero del automóvil, un líder sueco de la Juventud Demócrata Cristiana, había enviado mensajes de texto a Suecia indicando que seguían y habían sido forzados fuera de la carretera. Fue liberado luego de estar varios
días en aislamiento por intervención de las autoridades suecas y afirmó no tener memoria del siniestro. No se permitieron autopsias independientes y se le negaron los informes de autopsia a las familias; los dos certificados de defunción no
citaban causa de muerte. Una investigación por la Fundación de Derechos Humanos con sede en Nueva York concluyó que la evidencia señalaba la responsabilidad de agentes del estado. Poco antes de su muerte, Payá y su esposa viajaban en su furgoneta en La Habana cuando un vehículo los golpeó fuertemente por detrás. El coche se volcó pero la pareja logró escapar sin lesiones graves.

Sources: Conflict of Evidence:

Violation Status: Confirmed with primary source(s)

Cause of Death: - Extrajudicial killing, possible/suspected

Occupations: - Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

External Files: N/A

Relatives in Archive: N/A

Victim Type: - Political opponent: member of opposition group

Affiliations: - Movimiento Cristiano Liberación

Other Victims Same Event: - Case 985: Harold Cepero Escalante

Case Record - Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas