* Cuba says dissidents died in car accident
* Speeding, negligence declared cause of crash
* Spanish politician faces possible charges
HAVANA, July 27 (Reuters) - A Spanish politician was to
blame for a car crash that killed two Cuban dissidents,
including Oswaldo Paya, Cuba said on Friday in a report on an
accident that has raised suspicions among opposition activists
and some foreign governments.
The preliminary report, based on the testimony of three
eyewitnesses and the Spanish driver Angel Carromero Barrios,
said Carromero did not heed a series of signals to slow down for
repair work on the road and lost control of the car.
It estimated the car was traveling at 75 miles per hour (121
km per hour) at the time of the accident. The posted speed limit
was 37 mph (60 kph).
Paya, the 60-year-old leader of the Christian Liberation
Movement, and fellow dissident Harold Cepero were killed in the
crash on Sunday in eastern Granma province. Both were riding in
the back seat and neither wore a seatbelt, the report said.
Along with Carromero, the vice president of Spain's ruling
Popular Party's “"New Generations" movement, Swedish politician
Aron Modig, chairman of Sweden's Christian Democrats' youth
wing, was riding in the front seat. Both had their seatbelts
fastened.
The two foreigners escaped relatively unscathed from the
crash and remain in the country as the investigation continues.
The report indicated possible criminal charges were being
considered. The report's conclusion that Carromero was to blame
for the accident suggested that he could face charges of
reckless driving and involuntary manslaughter.
Paya's death caused consternation within dissident circles
and among Cubans living abroad and some foreign governments.
His family has repeatedly questioned whether his death was
due to an accident, and alleged that the car may have been run
off the road.
"“Angel Carromero declared ... that he did not remember
seeing the signals warning of the state of the road. He added
that when he entered the road under repair at a speed he could
not recall ... he braked hard in a effort to slow down and the
car began to slide to the side until it hit a tree," the report
said.
“ "(Modig) declared he was sleeping when he felt the breaking
and the car slide to the side, after which he lost
consciousness," it added.
The report cited a tractor driver and cyclist who were
traveling in the same direction as the ill-fated vehicle. Both
said it was moving at excess velocity, passed the tractor, hit
the unpaved part of the highway and crashed.
A witness driving in the opposite direction concurred with
the report.
Carromero had been driving for eight hours at the time of
the accident, having left Havana at 6 a.m. (1000 GMT).
A soft-spoken, unassuming medical equipment engineer, Paya
was awarded the European Union's top human rights award in 2002,
the Sakharov Prize, named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei
Sakharov. He was also nominated twice for the Nobel Peace Prize
by former Czech President Vaclav Havel.
(Editing by David Adams and Paul Simao)