Cuban activist Oswaldo Paya, who spent decades speaking out against the communist government of Fidel and Raul Castro and became one of the most powerful voices of dissent against their half-century rule, died Sunday in a car crash. He was 60. Orlando Gutierrez, a member of a local opposition group, Directorio Cubano, said he was murdered by the Castro regime.
The daughter of a prominent Cuban dissident killed in a car crash is pushing for an international investigation into how he died.
Rosa Maria Paya spoke Friday at the University of Miami. She says text messages, testimony from the driver of the vehicle and other evidence all indicate the crash was not an accident.
Paya is the daughter of Oswaldo Paya, founder of the Varela Project, a signature-gathering drive that called for a referendum guaranteeing rights such as freedom of assembly and speech in Cuba.
Cuban authorities say Paya died in a single-car crash. Spaniard Angel Carromero is serving a four-year sentence for vehicle manslaughter. However, in an interview with the editorial pages of The Washington Post he said the car was struck from behind by another vehicle.
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