PP youth leader freed from Spanish jail after return from Cuba

After serving 160 days of a four year sentence, Ángel Carromero, the Spanish politician who was convicted in Cuba on vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with the death of a dissident leader, walked out of a Segovia prison on Friday a free man.

A friend went to pick up the 27-year-old Popular Party (PP) youth leader, who declined to speak to reporters who were waiting for him.

Carromero, returned to Spain last month to serve out his four-year sentence imposed by a Cuban court in Bayamo for the July 22 deaths of Oswaldo Payá, 60, the leader of the dissident Cuban Liberation Movement, and his assistant Harold Cepero, 31. The Nuevas Generaciones leader, who was reportedly helping Payá with his dissident activities, was driving them in a rented vehicle that slammed into a tree.

Socio-penal authorities on Thursday had recommended he be granted third-degree status, which qualified him for early release. On Friday, prison officials approved the recommendation

The PP government engaged in strenuous diplomatic negotiations with Havana to allow him to serve out his sentence in Spain under a bilateral agreement that provides for an exchange of prisoners between the two countries.

There was no official reaction by the Cuban government over Carromero’s early release.

He will return to his job at the Moratalaz neighborhood council upon the recommendation of the city councilwoman who represents that district, Begoña Larrainzar.